Twist of Fate
by Dark Chyld713
Summary: Lorelei has been nothing more than a long time friend to two of the biggest WWF superstars, but a twist of fate leads to the destruction and near downfall of a certain tag team. Read and Review
1. Default Chapter

Lorelie was one of those women that you think are the luckiest on Earth. That was the way that she was viewed by millions of people around the world. She was a lifelong friend to Matt and Jeff Hardy. Growing up together in their homeotwn of Cameron, Carolina the three were bound to be close to one another. However career diffreneces led to the split of these three friends. The three of them hadn't seen each other in at least two years. The Hardys were traveling non stop without a chance to take a break and visit when Lorelie was able to.   
Lorelie bounced with excitement as she stepped of her plane. She had been away at college in Pennsylvania and her trip home was the first one that she had been able to take all year.  
"Mom!" Lorelie said excitedly when she finally stepped off the plane.  
"Hi sweety. I've missed you so much around home." her mom said hugging her. "My, my you certainly have changed."  
"No, I'm still the same old me. Just a little change in style." she said touching her visor with the play boy bunny on it.  
"I'm not sure I like this look. The short shirt and that hat."  
"Come on mom, it beats wearing tube tops and mini skirts."  
"That is true, but I still don't like that short shirt that you are wearing. Anyway, I have a surprise for you sweety."  
"Really? What is it?" Lorelie asked excitedly.  
"You will have to wait and see." her mother said. "I am not saying a word until we get home."  
Lorelie had very low patience when it came to waiting for surprises. She had stayed and bugged her mother until the full effect of the heat had sunk in.  
"Mommy it's to hot for me,"  
"You just aren't use to Cameron weather anymore. Don't worry, soon enough you'll feel just fine."  
"When I get home these pants are coming off." Lorelie said wiping the sweat away from her forehead. "Maybe I'll just hop in the pool and cool off that way. I can't believe this it's ten in the morning and it's already ninty degrees outside. I find this utterly ridiculous."  
"You'll adapt, this is home, you were built to take the heat."  
"Not anymore. Living in Pittsburg for the last two years has really brought down my tolerance for heat. It isn't this hot every day over there."  
"Stop complaining."  
Lorelie stayed quiet the rest of the ride trying to keep herself cool. As she walked in the house she heard voices.  
"Mom, who's here?" she asked as she walked in.  
"Go into the kitchen and find out." her mother told her.   
As she walked into the kitchen she saw Matt and Jeff going through cabinets trying to find some food.  
"Oh my God!" Lorelie yelled as she saw Matt and Jeff.  
"What's going on Lee?" Matt asked.  
"You're home!" she ran and jumped on Matt. "I can't belive that you're home.  
"I'm glad to be back to," Matt said to her.  
"I don't think this is the Lorelie that I know. The Lorelie that I know is borrowing my clothes and covered in dirt and band-aids."  
"Shut up." she said as she jumped on Jeff as she had done to Matt.  
"I love getting welcomed home like this," Matt said. "I could get use to this."  
"Well don't," Lorelie said. "Because you better start coming home more often. Why didn't you tell me that you were coming home?"  
"We wanted it to be a surprise," Matt said. "Surprises are so much fun."  
"Why do you think that we pushed so hard for you to come out this week?" Jeff asked me.  
"You certainly have changed." Lorelie said touching a strand of Jeff's fading blue hair color.  
"So have you," Jeff said. He poked her stomach.  
"A gym can do wonders for a person's self esteem." Lorelie said smiling.  
"You look really good," Matt said. "To tell the truth, I don't think that I would be able to recongnize you if you hadn't have walked into your own house."  
"Is that a good thing or bad thing?"  
"Mean it strictly in a good way."  
"Thank you," Lorelie said slightly blushing  
"Kids that was your father on the phone," Lorelies mother said walking into the kitchen. "He wants to know when you are going to go home and talk to your father."  
"We better get going," Matt said. "We're only here for a few days and dad really wants to spend as much time together as possible."  
"We'll see you soon," Jeff said standing up from the table.  
"Just yell down the street, I'll be here."  
"Just like you were for the first eighteen years of my life." Jeff said.  
"Sweety, he wanted you to come over and say hi too. He thinks of you as one of his own kids, he is practically your father." Lorelies mother said. "I think you should go over there and say hi."  
"Gives us an excuse to spend more time with you." Jeff said. "And dad would love to see you."  
"O.k." Lorelie said. "Let's go."  
"You might want to go and change out of your pants," Matt suggested. "It's a little hot out."  
Lorelie nodded. "I'll be right back," she said running to her room.  
Lorelie had known the Hardys since the say she was born, their mothers two very good friends had brought there kids together. She had never cared about what the boys thought about her. She never looked at them as anything else but friends. Now Lorelie found herself wanting to look the best that she possibly could. She rummaged through her back until she found a pair of shorts that she was satisfied with. She threw on a pair of black shorts and headed to the Hardy house.  
"So where are you staying?" Lorelie asked as the three walked down the same familiar street.  
"We're staying at a hotel right outside Raleigh," Jeff said.  
"We would have stayed at home, but loving dad made our rooms into a couple of rooms for his use."  
"How sweet of him," Lorelie said laughing.   
She stayed at the Hardy house until the sun was setting.  
"Better be heading back," she told the guys as they were preparing to leave. "Am I going to see you again?"  
"We're only here for a few days, but we'll try as hard as we can to get back out here," Matt said.  
"Why don't you come back to the hotel with us? We never get much sleep, and we always hang out with the rest of the guys. I promise you that you'll have a blast."  
"If you really think that it would be o.k. and it's no problem."  
"Not at all, I know that you'll have fun," Matt said.  
"O.k. I'll go."  
The three of them said goodbye to the Hardys father and took the rented car.  
"There's something that is different about you." Jeff said to her as he looked at her through the rear view mirror of the car.  
"No there's not," she said. "I am still the same Lorelie who borrows clothes from you. I am still the same Lorelie that lives for baseball, and can beat the two of you any place anywhere."  
"I don't know." Jeff said with a laugh. "I think Matt agrees, there is somethnig different about you right Matt?" Jeff asked. Matt nodded his head in agreement. "See, I'm telling you that something is different about you."  
"More sex appeal," Lorelie said laughing.  
"Who knows," Jeff said. They smiled at each other through the rear view mirror.  
The three of them hung out with some of the biggest WWF superstars until the early morning hours.  
"It's really late, I should be getting back home," Lorelie said after the three of them were the only ones basically awake.  
"Stay here the night," Jeff said.   
"I didn't bring anything," Lorelie said.  
"That never stopped you before," Jeff said. "Borrow some of my clothes."  
"And the hotel has toothbrushes," Matt said. "Please stay."  
"It's been so long since we've since eachother. Just want to squeeze in time to say you." Jeff said.  
"Then I get my own bed." she said.  
"And expect Matt and I to share a bed? I don't think so," Jeff looked over at Matt. "Matt you're on the floor tonight."  
"No way bro," Matt said. "No one is taking me out of a bed tonight."  
"Then I'm sharing with you Jeff."  
"Fine with me." Jeff went to his bag and threw me a pair of sweats and a cut up shirt.  
"I'm going to change," Lorelie said heading to the bathroom. She put on the pants but kept on the sport bra that she had on.  
"Here," she said throwing the shirt at Jeff.  
"Am I really that much taller than you?" Jeff asked as he looked at the folds in the pants.  
"You're also fatter than I am." Lorelie looked around the room. "Where did Matt go?"  
"He went to get you a toothbrush, and I am not fat."  
"I didn't say that you were fat, I said that you were fatter than I am," she said. She laid down on the bed next to him.  
"You wanna settle this the old way?" Jeff asked.  
"I would love to." Lorelie said. She stood up and took a little wrestling stance the way that they used to.  
The two of them wrestled around trying to knock each one down on the bed.  
Jeff knocked Lorelie down on the bed first and started tickling her.  
"This isn't fair," she said while laughing. "Tickling isn't legal in wrestling."  
"Too bad." Jeff said. "What are you going to do about it?"  
Lorelie rolled over and sat on top of Jeff. "That's what."  
"Don't think so." Jeff rolled her over and now sat on top of her. Both looked at each other and Jeff went to go move in for a kiss.  
"I'm back," Matt said as he walked in the room. "Did I miss something?" he asked.  
"You got my toothbrush, thank you so much," Lorelie said changing the subject and not answering his question. She got up from the bed and took the toothbrush from him. "Thanks again," she said.  
"Your welcome, but what's going on?"  
"Nothing man, nothing," Jeff said watching Lorelie walking into the bathroom.  
Matt shot Jeff a look. "What?" Jeff asked shrugging his shoulders.  



	2. Twist of Fate ch.2

Lori woke up and saw Jeff laying next to her. She found herself wishing that Jeff would have kissed her. She thought that it would have just been a one time thing and that he would never be able to feel for her as more than a friend. She thought that it was all to impossible to happen.  
"I can't believe that you actually have to leave." Lori said to the Hardys as they dropped off at her home.  
"I know, but we'll be back if we can after RAW." Jeff said.  
"We'll try as hard as possible. I definitly want to spend more time with you." Matt said.   
"We want to spend more time with you." Jeff corrected. "We'll try to get as much time free as possible." he smiled at her and gave her a hug. "We'll be back." he gave her a kiss on the cheek.  
"See you later." Matt said hugging her. "You look good Lee." he kissed her cheek.  
"Thanks." she said. "I'll see you later." she looked on helplessly as they drove away.  
"Lori darling, it's hot out why don't you go swimming," her mother said in a way that made it seem like she knew what Lorelie was feeling.  
"Jeff what was going on between you and Lee back there?" Matt asked Jeff as they were driving to the arena.   
"What are you talking about? Before when we said good bye?"  
"No, I'm talking about at the hotel last night and you know that."  
"Nothing was going on between us and you know that."  
"No I don't know that, it wasn't what I saw. I saw two people looking at eachother like they never have before. I saw my brother, and best friend looking as if something was happening as I walked in that door."  
"You're wrong Matt. Nothing happened. We wrestled around like we use to do."  
"And you always sat on top of Lori like that?" Matt asked getting a little louder with every word that was spoken.  
"What is up with you man?" Jeff said angry and disbelieving of Matt's behavior. "Nothing happened last night. I don't care if you believe it or not. I don't know why you are so upset about anything from last night anyway. I like her so what?"  
"There's a lot of what here." Matt said. He looked at Jeff who had a face that he only saw when he was annoyed at his brother. "The first what is that she has been like a sister to us and I want to know what's going on."  
"I don't know if you didn't notice Matt, but she has changed."  
"You think that I didn't know this? God Jeff, I guess what I am trying to tell you is that I see something new and different in her that I am attracted to."  
"And what do you want me to do about this? I can't control anything that you do or that she does."  
"I know all that, but you can control what you do."  
"Matt, are you telling me something?"  
"Yes, I'm telling you that I want you to stay away from Lee."  
"Sorry man, I don't see why you are telling me this. This is Lorelie that we are talking about. Not like she wants me anyway."  
"But you want her." Matt said slowly. "Just stay away."  
"Why? So you can go and get with her while I stay away and watch you get the happiness that you want? I don't think so." Jeff didn't say another word to Matt the rest of the drive. Matt banged his fist against the steering wheel. Jeff didn't say a thing to Matt's physical display of anger.  
"Did you have fun last night?" Lorelie's mother asked as they sat outside.  
"I did, I had a lot of fun."  
"You miss him don't you?"  
"Who?" Lorelie asked a little nervously. She didn't want to tell her mother that she was feeling something different about Jeff.  
"Jeff, you miss Jeff."  
"Yes, I miss him. I miss both of them."  
"I can see that you miss Jeff more, it was in the way that you seemed as he hugged you. I know, I've been there before."  
"Did you feel that way about daddy?"  
"I use to think that I did, but now I don't think that I could have ever felt that way about him."  
"I'm confused, and I don't know what I am going to do."  
"Go with your heart."  
"What if my heart takes me where I am not wanted? What do I do then?" she asked almost near tears. This was a confusion that she had never had to deal with, and she didn't know how to deal with it.  
"You'll go down that crossroad when you get there." That was the end of the conversation about Jeff. There wasn't much more to say then what was already said. Her mother was right about what she said. Why worry about what was out of her control?  
When the sunset Lorelie went to her room. Her mother didn't ask what was wrong or if she needed anything. By the time the sunset it was already nine, Lori wasn't tired at all, she just didn't want to be around people, even if it was her own mother. Then a thought entered her mind, she remembered that Matt and Jeff had told her when they were on and to watch. She turned on her t.v. and watched. She didn't know who anybody was or what the storylines were but she wanted to see Matt and Jeff. About half way through the first hour Matt and Jeff had a match. They walked out like normal, and Lorelie saw Lita, the fellow memeber of what they had called Team Xtreme. She was amazed at the things that Matt and Jeff did. Matt was more ground oriented, but very good to watch. Jeff was like a bird with no wings. He flew all over the ring and Lorelie thought it was great. There was a part of her that felt that she wanted to go in that ring and do what Jeff did, but she knew that it was only because she wanted to be Lita, and be with Matt and Jeff any chance that she could.  
"God, how am I going to figure this all out?" Lorelie said when the show was over. She turned off the t.v. and was only left with the soft humming of her fan. "What am I going to do with these feelings?"  
She heard the phone ring through her door. She didn't really care who was on the phone.  
"Lori dear it's Matt." her mother said handing her the phone through the door.  
"Thanks mom." she grabbed the phone excitedly. "Hello."  
"Hi Lee." Matt said. "Did you watch us tonight?" he asked.  
"Yes I did. The two of you are amazing in that ring. I didn't know that you did things like that. When I thought of wrestling I always thought of fake punches and things of that sort."  
"Now you know different right?"  
"Yes. Are you sore or bruised or anything like that?"  
"Almost every day of my life. But I wouldn't have it any other way. This is what I feel I was meant for and I love what I do in life."  
"I hope that I feel that way when I get the job that I want."  
"I think that you should have fun at your job if you want to stay sane."  
"That's very true and good advice,"  
"So I'm coming around tomorrow afternoon, do you want to go to lunch or something?" Matt asked her.  
"Just you and me?"  
"Yeah, it would be you and me, Jeff's got something to do already."  
"Sure, that sounds like fun. We need to catch up."  
"All right, I'll be there around one."  
"I'll see you then."   
"I should be going, I have to get up early and head to an early interview." Matt said. "Good night." he said.  
"Night, tell Jeff that I said hi and sweet dreams."  
"I will."  
"O.k. I'll see you tomorrow. Sweet dreams." she said hanging up the phone. She had butterflies in her stomach. There was something different about the way that Matt was talking to her. It almost seemed as if he thought that it was the first time that they had ever talked. She was hoping that Jeff would have come along, but whatever was to happen would happen. She was a very strogn believer in fate and that you had a certain destiny to fulfill. If she was meant to be with one of the Hardys then it would happen.  
She hopped out of her room. "Mommy, Matt is coming by tomorrow. We're going out to lunch."  
"Oh, it's your first date huh?"  
"It's not a date, it's just a two oldfrineds catching up lunch."  
"If that's what you want to think then where is Jeff going to be?"  
"I don't know Matt said that he had something else to do."  
"I'm sure he does. Just be careful because even if you don't think that it's a date the guy might."  
"Matt's not like that, he doesn't like me in the slightest. We're just going out to lunch to catch up."  
"Lori, be careful. I've seen the way that he looks at you lately, there's more to this then meets the eye, I am a hundred percent positive of that."  
Lorelie fell silent. She didn't want to think about what would happen if her mother was right. What would she tell Matt if it did turn out to be that he had more feelings for her then she knew of. She couldn't tell him that she liked his brother and that she wanted a relationship with Jeff instead of Matt. She knew that it would crush him. It would be wrong to tell him that, but how do you explain to a brother that you want the other one, when the brothers are practically joined at the hip? This would mean a total division of what was known as with the Hardy Boyz. She finally decided that she would act on that when it came her way. At that time it was a problem that seemed small and seemingly something that wouldn't happen. She never worried about things, especially things that seemed to be out of her control.  
"Hey Matt." Lorelie said as Matt walked into the house as he had thousands of times before.  
"Lee, ready to get going?"  
"Yes I am." she said. She smiled and studied the way that he looked and the way that he smiled. She was now going to be more aware of what was going on with Matt, thanks to her mother. And already she was seeing signs of things being different. Lorelie knew Matt and the way he smiled at the girls he wanted to be future girlfriends. At that moment she felt as if she was getting one of those smiles from him.   
"Then let's get out of here. I'll see you later Mary." Matt said to Lorelie's mother.  
"Bye mommy." Lorelie said. There was a little nervousness in her voice that Matt didn't pick up. The seemingly impossible situation with Matt was seemingly getting bigger and looked as if it was going to be hard to deal with.  
"So where are we going to eat?" Lori asked Matt as they were driving.  
"Visiting a little childhood spot." he answered.  
"Too bad Jeff couldn't be here." she said. "It would have been nice to hang out with the both of you once again. I haven't seen you in almost two years." she said.  
"I know, it's been a while and it doesn't seem like anything at all."  
"Well, things have changed, but it just doesn't feel like we have been away from each other for that long."  
"I know. I can't believe that it's been two years."Matt looked over at her. "You have changed within the last two years."  
"How? I feel like I am the same person, nothing different. Is the change good or bad?"  
"No it's all good. I mean, you toned up and you seem to have more confidence in yourself."  
"That's what college will do to you." she answered. "What about you? The two of you are more crazy then ever before. You seem more fearless then you have been."  
"It's a reputation that I have to keep. Jeff does a good job at keeping that one alive."  
"I know that one. The two of you are crazy for doing what you are doing in the ring. I have never seen anyone do the things that you and him do."  
"Jeff is utterly insane."  
"Then what are you?"  
"I have my sanity, I'm just having a little bit of fun in the ring."  
"Whatever you say."  
The two pulled into a local diner that they always rode down to for special dinners and to have fun.  
"I haven't been in here in so long." Lorelie said walking in.  
"Neither have I." Matt looked around. "But I bet that everyone still remembers you."  
"Remembers me?" Lorelie looked on the wall. "Not me, I think that they remember you" she pointed to a promo picture of Matt and Jeff.  
"What can you do." Matt said. "Times like these you always use your stardom for the better."  
Because Matt was so well known he got seated quickly and had the best service he could possibly ask for. Lorelie felt a little weird to see childhood friends there, working their ways through college. Lorelie loved her town, but was never satisfied with it. So many had stayed behind, Lori knew that it was time to move on, so it felt weird to constantly be asked why she had left.  
"Did you have fun?" Matt asked after they had eaten.  
"I did." she said. "Thank you for the lunch Matt. I really wish that you were here for the rest of the week." she said.  
"Right now so do I." Matt said. "I don't want to leave, especially when you're here."  
"That's flattering." she said. "What are we going to do now?" she asked.  
"I have about an hour before I have to get going." he said. Matt squinted his eyes a little as he was thinking. "I know." he said.   
They drove over to a small park. "It's so quiet here." Lori said.   
"I know, things don't usually get busy until after lunch."  
"I know, we use to come over here everyday." she said.  
"I know, that was fun. I use to watch you and wish that you liked me the way that I liked you."  
"What?" she asked. She was hoping that that was all that he had to say on her and his crush. This was something she never knew and right then didnt' want to hear.   
"I thought you knew. I liked all through high school." he said.  
"No way. You had so many other girlfriends, that's not true, your lying to me and you know it. Don't be so mean."  
"I'm not lying," Lorelie sat down on a swing and Matt started to push her. "I use to wish above everything that you would finally start to like me, but you never did. All the others were nice and I liked them, but they weren't you and I always knew that."  
"Oh please. You never liked me, you told Jeff all the time that you didn't like me when he asked you."  
"You think I didn't tell Jeff?" Matt asked. "Jeff knew after everytime that he asked me. Whenever he asked me it was when I was going to ask a girl out. I didn't want to tell him, but he knew."  
"So you lied to your own brother?" she laughed a little. "Funny thing is that I use to like you too." she said. "I never thought that you liked me though, because you always had a girlfriend."  
"I guess that we were to blind to see what was really in front of our faces." he said.   
"Maybe at that time," Lorelie said. "But hey you move on right?"  
"Yeah, you move on and then move back to it." Matt said.  
"What?"  
"There's still that crush that I have on you."  
"Matt that was four or five years ago."  
"And as we speak it's getting stronger and stronger."  
Lorelie stopped swinging. She sat still hoping that this was all a dream and she didn't have to hurt Matt in any way. Matt walked over to face her and kneeled down.  
"Matt your bad, you're just joking with me, you are going to tell me that you were kidding and laugh at me and watch my face as you laugh."  
"I'm not laughing, and I'm not joking." he said very seriously. "I've matured a little bit and I'm telling you now how I feel. I want to know how you feel."  
Her true feelings ran through her head. There was no way that she was going to tell Matt that she liked Jeff and that her thing for Matt had ended when he left to go wrestling at the age of nineteen.  
"Don't you have to get to the arena?" Lorelie said. Matt sighed and looked down. "I don't know Matt. I flattered that you feel the way that you do, but you broke my heart when you left and I got over you. I don't want to go back to that again."  
Matt nodded and stood up. "I think it's time for us to get going."  
"Matt," Lori stood up from the swing and pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry, I really am. Still friends right?"   
"Always friends," he smiled at her and started to walk to the car.  
What a way to end an afternoon with a life long friend she thought to herself.   
"I told you sweety. Mothers know things for a reason. What did you tell him?"  
"That I didn't feel the same way."  
"Poor Matt," her mother said.  
"Don't make me feel any worse mom."  
The conversation was interrupted by the phone.  
"That might be Jeff," her mother said. "He called before and said he would call back.  
"O.k." Lori ran to the phone and sure enough it was Jeff.  
"Hi Lori, what's going on?"  
"Nothing much, I just got back, too bad you couldn't come along."  
"Come along where?"  
"Out to lunch with Matt and I."  
"You went out with Matt today?"  
"Yeah." she said as if he knew and forgot about it.  
"Oh, did you have fun?" he asked her.  
"It was nice. It would have been fun if we had the three of us together again. But hey, you had other things to do."  
"Um, yes, I had plans." Jeff said quietly. "So what did you do with him?"  
"We just went out to eat and then talked a little in the park."  
"Glad that you had fun. I was just calling to talk for a little. I'm a little bored, I don't have to go out until a little later on."  
"What did you do today?" Lori asked Jeff.  
"Not much, I went out and got some pants and shoes. Can I ask what you and Matt talked about?"  
"About the past." she answered. "He told me that he had a crush on me during high school and told me that he still liked me and all of that stuff."  
"And what did you tell him?" he asked a little concerned and anxious about what she was going to say.  
"I told him the truth, I told him that I didn't like him that way and that I left that all behind when you left to go and wrestle."  
"That's nice of you to tell the truth." There was a sound in the back that Lori heard. "Matt just came in, I guess it's getting closer to show time."  
"Do you have to go now?" she asked.  
"Yes, I have to go." he said. "Have a couple of things that I need to do. I'll call you after the taping."  
"I'll be here."  
"So I guess that I'll talk to you later."  
"Bet on it."  
"All right, love you."  
"Love you too."  
"Bye."  
"Bye," Lori said and hung up the phone.  
Jeff turned around to look at Matt.  
"Is something wrong with you?" Matt asked him.  
"Why didn't you tell me?"  
"Tell you what?"  
"Why didn't you tell me that you were going out with Lorelie today?"  
"You had plans."  
"After you told me that you were going out. Some brother. You take her out and then tell her how you feel."  
"Jeff-"  
"You want me to stand by and get what you want all the time, I'm sick of it."  
"Jeff I needed the time with her,"  
"So you tell me. Do you think that I am that selfish that I wouldn't let you go out with her?"  
"I don't know what I was thinking."  
"Matt you went behind my back. You are throwing away all my trust in you for Lori."  
"I had to do what I had to do. It was a great day and I have no regrets about it."  
"Except for this," Jeff looked at Matt, punched him and walked away. "You just screwed yourself over."  
  
  



	3. Twist of Fate ch.3

Matt was stunned at what Jeff had just done to him. He didn't know that going out with Lorelie would make Jeff that upset. He stood there quiet for a few minutes and then went to the arena. He could feel the black eye coming on. He wasn't worried about his eye though. He was worried about later on that night. He and Jeff had a tag match and they needed to work together to do a good job. Matt felt guilty for everything that happened, but he needed to do what he had to do and that was the end of it. He wouldn't go back and change a thing. He needed to tell Lorelie how he felt and he did.  
"Hey Matt what happened to the eye?" Adam asked when he saw Matt.  
"Nothing really, just a little accident." Matt said. "Good luck on your match tonight." he said to Adam and then walked away to go get changed and stretch out.  
"Thanks." Adam walked around to the other side of the building. He knew that Jeff liked to be alone and went to the most remote part of the venue.  
"I thought that I would find you here." Adam said when he found Jeff. "You always liked to be alone."  
"Yeah, what's going on man."  
"I just say Matt, he has a black eye did you know how it happened?"  
"Yeah, I gave it to him." Jeff said cooly.  
"O.k. but why? What happened?"   
"Nothing to worry about man, I need to concentrate on tonight and stretch out."  
"Hey good luck, and hope that you and Matt work out whatever it is that has you fighting."  
Jeff nodded. I should get to the locker room and start to change."  
He walked away without another word. Jeff hated people in his personal business, and when he didnt' want to talk then he wasn't going to talk so you might as well give up then and not even bother to bug him about it.  
"Jeff, Jeff." Amy called from behind coming up to him behind the entrance curtain.  
"Hey Amy what's going on?"  
"I think that I should be asking you that. Are you ready for tonight?"  
"I am more then ready. I know what to do, maybe you should worry about Matt." he said.  
"Just promise me that whatever happened today between the two of you is left back here and doesn't follow you into the ring. We have jobs to do and I want you and Matt to know that you are professionals and if you go out there and screw things up I am going to hurt the both of you."  
"Don't worry about anything Amy,everything is cool. I am ready. If that's what you wanted to know you got your answer, yes."  
"Good, then let's get out there and do what we gotta do."  
Matt walked up and looked at Jeff. "Jeff, about today, I know that I should have told you that I was going out with Lori today. But I needed the day with her."  
"Did you tell her how you felt?"  
"Yes,"  
"Did you try and make a move on Lee?"  
"I did."  
The Hardyz music hit and Jeff looked at Matt. "Screw you." and then walked through the curtain.  
Amy looked at the both of them and couldn't believe what she was hearing, she didn't really know what was going on or what was going to happen, but she knew that it was ridiculous to see two brothers fight for any reason.  
The Hardyz started off the right way. In fact you could not see any difference in their performance as a team until the very end. Jeff stopped Matt from getting the win and finished the match off himself. Matt and Amy were both confused on what had jsut happened. Jeff would not even stay around to get his hand raised in victory. He walked up the ramp without Matt or Amy.   
Lorelie new that something was wrong, and she wanted to find out what it was. She had never seen Matt or Jeff do that. When she watched them in Omega when they tagged they walked away together, victorious or not. Lorelie shut off her t.v. and went out to the living room.  
"Mom, I think that something has happened."  
"What do you mean darling."  
"Matt and Jeff, something is not right there. Jeff just walked away with Matt. That isn't like them at all. I have never once seen them do that." she said to her mother.  
"Lori, I would be wise and stay out of this one, these are two brothers and you can't get in between an argument like that."  
"I have helped other ones." she said. "I am going to help with this."  
"I wouldn't do it. When you were little things were different, I don't think that it's for the best if you do this."  
"I have to, the two of them mean so much to me and I am not going to sit back and watch them destroy themselves."  
"Let them work it out for themselves."  
"I can't." Lorelie grabbed the phone and left a message on Jeff's cell. "Call me as soon as you get this, I want to talk to you Jeff, it's very important."  
"Jeff," Amy yelled backstage. "I thought that you said you were ready?"  
"I was, I won, we won didn't we?"  
"YOu hurt your own brother."  
"Matt? As far as I am concerned right now, I don't need to think about what Matt wants. Matt hasn't thought about what I wanted and I dont' want to think about what he wants or needs. For right now, it's every man for himself. And if I were you I would turn Matt into a man as fast as I possibly could." Jeff walked away again and went to take a shower and get out of the arena as soon as possible.  
When he was walking to his car he noticed the flashing light on the phone. He called Lorelie back as soon as he heard her message.  
"Hi Jeff, I'm glad that you called." she said to him.  
"You sounded a little upset, is everything o.k.?"  
"I'm fine, but what about you and Matt? Is everything o.k. with the two of you?"  
"What happened with you and Matt today?" he asked her.  
"Nothing really why?"  
"I want to know what happened, please tell me."  
"Jeff, you don't want to know, why does it matter anyway?"  
"It matters to me. What happened?"  
"I'll tell you but not on the phone, where are you now?"  
"I"m on the highway heading for home."  
"Stop at the diner on the highway, I'll meet you there in twenty minutes."  
"O.k."  
"I'm going out, I'll be back soon Mom." Lorelie said grabbing her keys and running out of the house.  
Keeping her promise Lorelie was at the diner in twenty minutes.   
"Hey Lorelie." Jeff said walking up to her. "Why did you want to see me?"  
"Are you hungry? I ate and all, but if you didn't then we can go in and eat."  
"I haven't eaten yet, let's go and sit down."  
When the two of them ordered Jeff brought up Matt again.  
"What happened with Matt today?" he asked.  
"He just told me that he still liked me that's all." Lorelie said. She was somewhat nervous that Jeff would think that she liked Matt when she didn't. "I told him that I didn't feel that way and all, that was that."  
"Did he kiss you?"  
"Yes he did, but I stopped him and told him that I didn't want a relationship with him."  
Jeff stayed quiet for a few minutes and then turned towards Lorelie.  
"Listen Lee, I want to tell you something that will probably surprise you and all. I know that it's something that I shouldn't tell you but I need to tell you anyway."  
"Then say it Jeff. We have never kept anything from each other."  
"THis can really mess things up."  
"Just tell me."  
"I love you Lorelie."  
"Jeff, I love you too."  
"No, I mean I love you as more then friends."  
"Jeff-"  
"I know that you can't feel that way towards me."  
"Jeff I-"  
"ANd I know that it puts strain on our relationship and all."  
"Jeff I-"  
"But I just wanted you to know that I do love you."  
"Jeff-"  
"It's o.k. that you don't feel this way, but I do and I can't-"  
Lorelie gave up on trying to talk and kissed him. "Jeff, I love you too." she said smiling at him.  
"You mean?"  
"Yes, that's what I have been trying to tell you, but you wouldn't shut up."  
"Oh, I"m sorry." he said a little embarassed.  
The two talked a little longer and then decided that they should be getting back.  
"Promise me that you'll call when you tell Matt what happened?"  
"Lori I promise.I am going to tell him tonight and then you can talk to him when I call you, or maybe you should wait a little he might be a little upset."  
"God, Jeff I hope that this doesn't crush him."  
"Don't worry it won't." he said to her. "Matt can take it, nothing is going to happen." he said to her. THe truth was he didn't know how Matt was going to act and at that point in time he didn't really care for what Matt thought or how he felt. "I'll call you later on tonight o.k.?"  
"Good." she said with a smile. "Get back safe all right?"  
"I will." he gave her a hug and a kiss. "YOu get home and if I don't call then don't worry,you will get a call though."  
"Please call."  
"I'll try as hard as possible."  
"And get some sleep. I love you."  
"Love you too."   
Lorelie and Jeff went their seperate ways and went to their home, or hotel in Jeff's case.  
"Man, where have you been?" Matt asked when Jeff walked in. "You may be mad at me but that doesn't stop me from worrying about you."  
"I was out eating dinner with Lee."  
"What?"  
"SHe called me up and we went out to talk."  
"I thought that I asked you to step aside and stay away."  
"You did, and I said no." Jeff answered. "I'm not stepping aside, the girl loves me."  
"WHat?"  
"She told me today Matt, she loves me."  
Matt jumped at Jeff and shoved him into the wall.   
"You did this on purpose!"Matt yelled.  
"Me? You were the one that wanted me to be miserable so you could be unhappy." Jeff yelled back. He pushed Matt off of him. "I'm out of here." Jeff grabbed his bags and walked out of the room.  
Lorelie sat in her bed thinking about what Jeff must be going through with Matt. She knew that Matt liked her, she just had no idea how much, or what was going to happen in the next few hours. 


	4. Twist of Fate ch 4

"Jeff," Matt yelled after him running into the hallway. "Jeff, wait up!!" Matt chased after Jeff grabbing his bag to stop him from leaving.

"Let me go Matt."

"Look, I'm sorry, I really am. Honestly I don't know what it is that I was thinking."

"How could you possibly do that to me? Lorelei doesn't even like you Matt." Jeff turned and looked straight into Matt's eyes. Both faces were filled with remorse, but more than remorse they were filled with rage. An unexpressed anger had been building up in both Hardy's, and it now was about to be released. "She does not want you, she told me that. Then you want to know what she told me afterwards? She told me that she loves me. She kissed me Matt. I didn't make a single move on her, she went and kissed me."

"Jeff-"

"Oh does that bug you? I know that you didn't want to see me end up with her. But you know what; I think that now I deserve my turn. All those years growing up with her, she never looked twice at me, and now she is. I thought that you might be happy about that. Even though you would be hurt by her rejection, I thought you might just be happy for your little brother." Jeff hung his head. The fact that Matt did not want to support him in trying to make this relationship work hurt Jeff more than anyone would ever realize.

"Jeff I'm sorry dude. I know that you wouldn't purposely go around and take her from me, but..." Matt sighed.

"You want me to tell her that I can't see her. Because if you can't have her than no one can right Matt?"

"No, it's not like that."

"Let go of my bag Matt."

"Jeff don't leave it like this."

"Let go. I'm not going to tell her that I can't see her. I am going to try and be happy no matter what. You can either fall in line with that, or leave us both alone."

"I can't just sit around and pretend like it's going to be ok Jeff. How could you ask me to do something like that?"

"How can you ask me to give up something that I really want? You know how hard this life can be. The toll that it takes on me every single day. I found something that can help me take away some of that stress. How can my own brother be against something that was going to make me happy?"

"Jeff I'm not against it."

"I'm just supposed to find another way to do it, yeah I know." Jeff yanked away his bag and walked away. "Don't worry, I'll still wrestle out the week with you, then we can figure out what to do from there." he yelled over his shoulder.

Lorelei sat anxiously in her room waiting for Jeff to call. She was hoping that he would call and simply say that they had worked everything out. How was she to know that Matt's feelings for her had run deeper than anyone would know, or that Jeff and Matt had built up tension between them that was mounting very quickly over the past couple of days?

"Come on Jeff, call," she said staring at her phone trying to will it to ring. "Everything is fine between the two of you, it has to be fine. If it isn't-" Lorelei's thought was interrupted by the phone. She grabbed it right away. "Jeff?" She said the moment that she picked it up.

"No, but I can see why you would be expecting him to call you."

"Oh-" she paused for a second. "Hi, Matt."

"Not who you were expecting, I can tell." he said a bit hurt.

"Well no, but that doesn't mean that I'm not happy to get a call from you. I was actually hoping to talk to you tonight."

"Oh really? Why is there something that you want to tell me?" he asked feigning dumb.

"Umm, kind of. Have you talked to Jeff tonight?"

"Of course, he is my brother after all."

"So then I'm guessing that he told you."

"Told me?"

Lorelei sighed. "Come on Matt don't do this to me. Either you know or you don't know."

"Don't do this to you? Oh I'm sorry have your feelings been hurt? I'm really sorry; I didn't know that you could be so sensitive."

"Matt that isn't what I meant. I want to talk to you about what happened tonight I really do. But sitting here going back and forth like this isn't going to help."

"Is that why?"

"Why what?"

"Why you told me that you didn't want to go back to the idea of me and you? Is Jeff the reason why? Did the two of you already talk about being together when I told you how I felt?"

"No Matt of course not, Jeff would never do that to you and neither would I. And yes, Jeff was part of the reason but I meant what I said to you at the park. When you and Jeff left I was hurt, honestly hurt. Somewhere inside of me I thought that I could get you to stay, ya know for me. I thought that one day you would turn around and see me watching you, realize that I genuinely had a large crush on you, and that I would lay awake nights dreaming of the life that we could build together. The day you left a bit of me died. My best friends, and my first love had just walked out of my life, I wasn't enough to keep them here. That's when I decided that I needed to move on."

"Oh Lee, I'm so sorry I never realized." He sniffled. She was never sure, but she always thought that Matt had started crying. "But it's not too late. We can still have everything that you wanted for us. This time it can be both of us laying awake thinking about our lives. Please Lee, baby tell me that it isn't too late."

"But it is Matt. I love you so much, but it's too late."

"It's because of Jeff."

"No Matt, haven't you listened to anything I just said? I can't go back to that, I won't go back to that, and I told you that this afternoon."

"Yeah and then tonight you tell my little brother that you want him instead of me. How can you do that?"

"Matt, I wasn't going to say anything to him, trust me. I would never do anything to jeopardize your relationship. We had dinner and he told me how he felt. I couldn't just sit there and tell him that I felt nothing for him. I told him the truth, just like I told you this afternoon.

There was a long moment of silence before Lorelei decided to talk again. "Matt, what happened between you and Jeff tonight?"

"We" he paused trying to find a way to lighten the situation. "talked, is all."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah of course. Why?"

"Then why haven't I heard Jeff this entire time? And why hasn't he called me yet?"

"Is Jeff all you care about?" Matt asked heatedly.

"No sweetie, calm down." Lorelei said trying to calm him down before he got angry. "I just want to make sure that the both of you are ok."

"O.K.? How can I be ok?" he sighed and stayed quiet before talking again, trying to control the tears that wanted to pour down his face. "How can it be that you don't want me?"

"Oh Matt. I-I don't think that this is the best time to talk about this. I mean, you are really emotional and I think that we should just wait until tomorrow to talk ok?"

"Yeah you're probably right. So then I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Whenever you want to call I'll be right here. And when you see Jeff again tell him that I want to talk to him too ok?"

"Right, Jeff." Matt said sounding a little strained. "Yeah I'll tell him, ya know, when I see him and all."

"Ok good night Matthew," Lorelei said hanging up the phone.

She lay down in her bed, thinking that the phone would ring once more and that this time it would be Jeff's voice that she heard. Instead there was only silence and she fell asleep with her phone in her hand waiting for Jeff.


	5. Twist of Fate ch 5

Lorelei woke up the next morning to the smell of pancakes, and the sound of a ringing phone.

"Hello," she answered, still half asleep.

"Did I wake you? I'm sorry. Why did you answer the phone?"

"Jeff?" she asked a little confused.

"Yeah it's me."

"Why didn't you call me last night? I spent all night waiting for you to call."

"Oh Lee I'm so sorry. I didn't think that you would wait up for me or anything. I left my phone in Matt's room, and I didn't exactly want to go back in and get it."

"What happened between the two of you last night? Matt called me, he was pretty upset."

"Nothing that you need to start worrying about at this moment."

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you just woke up, it's really early in the morning and I just wanted to call and hear your voice."

"Thank you that's very sweet. Hey when I'm a bit more awake I'll call you back ok?"

"Sure. If I don't answer leave a message. I've got a couple of appearances to do."

"Ok I'll do that. I'll talk to you later."

"I love you Lee."

"You too Jeff," she said hanging up the phone and climbing out of bed. "Hey Mom," she yelled from her room. "Mom, why are you up making pancakes? I thought that you'd be at work or somewhere else by now," she said shuffling into the kitchen, clearing the sleep out of her eyes.

"That's because she is."

Lorelei whipped her head up and saw Matt standing there in the kitchen.

"Matt," she said stunned. "Wha- what are you doing here?"

"Making pancakes," he said with a little bit of a smile. "It's nothing fancy, but I don't really cook all that much, so we got to work with what I know."

"No, I see you're making pancakes, but what are you doing here, as in what are you doing standing in my kitchen? I thought that you would be leaving today after finishing up whatever little bit of business you had left to do here."

"Well, see that was the plan, until last night that is. I'm taking today off. I'm not scheduled for anything big, no matches or anything so I'll travel a little later than everyone; it's really not a big deal."

"O.K. but you being here is. I thought you were going to call me?"

"I know, but I thought it would be better if we talked in person. Besides I wanted to spend the day with you, just to figure out where things stand with us."

"I don't know if that's the best idea."

"I promise Lee I won't say anything if you don't want me to, and I won't make any moves. I just want one day with you that's all."

"And what happens when Jeff finds out?"

"Let me handle that. I'm not trying to do anything fishy. I am only trying to have a proper good bye to all the feelings that I've had for you for so many years."

Lorelei stood quiet for a minute, studying Matt before walking over to him. "I think that I can do that." She smiled at him and pulled him into a hug. "I would hate for things to be different between us Matt, you mean so much to me."

"Yeah, I know," he said quietly, then letting go of her. Lorelei gave him a strange look. "I don't want the pancakes burning or anything," he said quickly to cover up for the fact that he really did pull away from her.

Physical contact was too painful for Matt. Looking at Lorelei was hard enough for Matt to do, and he was only there to try to make sense of all that had gone on the other night. But for her to hug him brought about every impulse inside of him to grab hold of her and not let her go. He could tell that she was already uncomfortable with the fact that he had been there unannounced. There was no way that Matt would do anything to make her feel that more so, and so he was on his guard, and extra protective over what he said, and any move that he made.

The morning passed by without Matt or Lorelei realizing that the time was passing faster than they thought. Over breakfast, the two did not talk about anything important; they were more concerned on trying to feel comfortable with each other again. The years of friendship that they had shared were being put to the test, and both were determined to make sure that they didn't fail. After breakfast was over they talked some more as they took their time cleaning up the kitchen. The ringing of Lorelei's phone made them realize that they had spent the last few hours with each other without realizing that it had been that long, and without talking about Matt's feelings.

Lorelei looked down at her phone and saw that it was Jeff calling.

"I should take this," she said to Matt.

"Do you really have to? I mean we were having such a good time."

"It's Jeff, I told him that I'd call him a little later on. He's probably wondering what is going on. I think that he deserves an explanation." Matt nodded and she picked up the phone. "Hey, Jeff." Lorelei walked out of the kitchen to get a little privacy, and to spare Matt any pain that might come from hearing the conversation.

Matt waited a few minutes before heading to the edge of the living room. He stood there silently listening to Lorelei argue with Jeff.

"No, it's not like that." She stayed quiet for a moment. "Jeff I didn't know that he was coming over. I woke up and he was making breakfast."

Matt waved his hand to catch her attention. Lorelei looked at him and mouthed "I'm sorry."

He shook his head to tell her it was fine. "Let me talk to him," he said quietly.

She shook her head. "Not a good idea," she said back to him.

"Jeff-Jeff…. Jeff! Would you just listen to me for one minute? I will tell you what is going on if you stop all the rambling." She waited to see if he would calm down. "Thank you. Look Matt is here for no other reason than to talk to me about what happened yesterday. I did not know that he was coming over, it's only for the afternoon, and nothing is going to happen. He's hurting, just like I know you are, and I want to make sure that things are right between all three of us ok? I wouldn't lie to you about how I felt. I love you Jeff."

Matt turned and walked back into the kitchen trying to block out the rest of the conversation. Lorelei walked back into the room not knowing what to say to him or do.

"Matt I'm sorry about that. He was upset and-," she stopped herself and just sighed sitting down next to him.

"I thought that I could do this. I thought that I would come over here, spend the day with you, we'd talk, we'd laugh, and I would realize that no matter what I still need you around. And when that happened I would be able to look at you and tell you that it's ok to be with Jeff. I would be able to tell you that I can put a lid on my feelings, and that I will be able to move on. But I," he stopped talking and put his head down, hiding his face in his hands.

"Matt, look at me, please look at me." Lorelei grabbed his hands, and pulled them away from his face. "Oh Matthew, don't cry. I wish that I could feel the same way towards you, and I wish that I didn't have to cause you so much pain, but Matt I really can't go back to that spot in my life. My feelings for you were so strong that they almost destroyed me. I am not going to open them back up, not for anything, and that is something that you need to understand."

"I know that I do. But I can't understand you going with Jeff, and you can't ask me to."

The rest of the day passed with Matt and Lorelei talking about everything that had been hurting them and keeping them from moving on with their lives for many years. By the end of the day Lorelei had decided that she couldn't keep a relationship alive with Jeff while Matt was so hurt by it. She knew that their brotherhood was at stake and that was bigger than any feelings that she had towards Jeff, or that Jeff had towards her. She said nothing to Matt when he left her house as the sun was setting. They hugged and went back to their own lives, both of them feeling like nothing was going to be the same between them.

Lorelei closed the door to her room and took in a few deep breaths. What she was about to do was not going to be easy for either her or Jeff. But she knew deep down that it was the one thing that could save the relationship between Matt and Jeff. She grabbed her phone and with shaky hands dialed Jeff's phone number. Part of her was hoping that he didn't pick up the phone; she would be able to delay something that she didn't want to do. But her feelings for Matt were still so strong that seeing him in so much pain made her mind up. She wouldn't date him, that was something that she knew would end in pain. But there was one thing that she could do for him, and she was willing to do anything for him, even if it was ending up with a broken heart herself.

"Hello," Jeff answered the phone. Lorelei's heart sank a bit. "I've been waiting for you to call. I have missed you so much today. It's kind of crazy, but there's nothing that I can do to get you off of my mind."

"Jeff," Lorelei said interrupting him. She didn't know how much she could hear before she backed out of her plan, and she knew that she couldn't possibly do that.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Everything is ok. Well everything is going to be ok." She said. Lorelei tried to stop herself, but tears started streaming down her face. She sniffed, trying to stop herself, and trying to ignore the pain that she was in.

"Lee, are you crying? What happened? You can tell me."

"Oh Jeff, I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"There's something that I need to say, just don't say anything till I finish."


	6. Twist of Fate ch 6

The rest of the week passed by, at the end of it Lorelei returned back to Pennsylvania. She was finishing up her last semester of graduate school, and there were a few job offers she had lined up. Everything in her life seemed to make sense, except for the fact that she hadn't heard from Matt or Jeff for days.

"Keep in touch honey, and come back soon." Her mother said to her as she hugged her good bye. "I know that you're hurting right now, but trust me you did what was for the best."

"I know I did mom. I'll be home soon, and I'll see you in a few months at graduation right?"

"Of course you will."

Lorelei boarded the plane and sat thinking over the past week the entire way back to her home. That night was Smackdown, and she wondered what was going to happen this time with the Hardy's. Without speaking to them the entire week she did not know what happened after Jeff hung up the phone with her, or what happened when Matt and Jeff met up with each other.

"Hey Jeff, hold up!" Matt called after him.

Jeff ignored Matt's call and kept on walking, the two brothers had not spoken the entire week. The moment that Jeff hung up the phone with Lorelei he had made up his mind that Matt would no longer be part of his life. If his brother was willing to sabotage something that was so important to Jeff than there was no reason why he should be a part of Jeff's life.

"You know that we are going to need to talk to each other sometime." Matt yelled still walking after him. "To be honest, I don't even know why you stopped talking to me in the first place. You grabbed your stuff; got your own room and I haven't heard from you since. In fact no one really has."

Jeff stopped walking and stood still. He felt pure rage course through his veins. How could Matt not know what happened? After all he was the one that caused Lorelei to call up Jeff and tell him that they couldn't be together. Matt knew that Jeff would never tell her that he would stop seeing her so Matt went and talked to Lorelei. Wasn't it Matt that had taken away the one thing that Jeff needed at this point in his life? Now here he stood in front of Jeff claiming innocence and worse ignorance to the things that he himself had made happen. Every fiber in Jeff's body cried out to turn around and start beating Matt until every pent up emotion had its taste of revenge.

"Don't do that Matt." Jeff said finally speaking.

"Don't do what exactly? There are so many things these days that people are telling me not to do. Don't bother him, don't run after him, give him space and don't crowd him. What is it that I am not exactly supposed to do?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know what you did. You cannot stand there and look at me and tell me that you are innocent."

"Jeff, dude, really I do not know what you are talking about. You are the most important person to me. We have built our careers together, why would I do anything to mess that up?"

"Oh God Matt!" Jeff screamed. "You won ok, you won."

"Won? Won what? I didn't know that we were in competition with each other."

"My life is in constant turmoil. I have nothing to hold on to right now. You betrayed me and now you stand here and lie to me about it."

"I- what? How did I betray you?" Matt stood there stunned that Jeff would say something like that to him. In his mind Matt had never done anything to Jeff that would warrant Jeff saying those things to him.

"She left me. She called me up, told me that she couldn't stay with me. I haven't heard from her in a week. Are you happy now? You were too important to her to risk staying with me."

Matt stayed silent, feeling extremely guilty. Part of him was happy that Lorelei did leave Jeff, but he knew that anytime Jeff opened himself up to feel that it was strong and deep. He knew that the rejection must have devastated Jeff.

"You have to believe me I didn't tell her to do that."

"Why should I believe anything that you tell me?" Jeff took a deep breath in trying to keep himself from crying. "I'm hurt Matt, I never thought that you would do something like that to me. I always thought that you were the one person that I would always be safe with, and always count on. I never thought that you would be the one to hurt me this deep."

"But Jeff really I didn't tell her to do that. If she did it was for her own reasons, and because of her own thoughts. Please believe me, please." Matt reached for Jeff's arm.

"You really don't want to touch me right now. Just let me be, I have no room, or use in my life for people like you."

"We're going to have to work this out don't you think? I mean we are still a tag team. That means that we are going to have a lot of matches together."

Jeff looked at Matt and sighed. "On camera we'll be everything we're supposed to be, off camera just stay away from me."

Jeff started to walk away still in disbelief that Matt would deny what he had done, and then concentrate solely on his career instead of Jeff's feelings. It took Matt a moment to realize how he must have sounded. "Jeff!" He yelled after him. "I didn't mean it like that man; I only mean that we're going to have to work through this."

"For your career, yes I know. And I already told you that I will get everything done in the ring."

"Come on Matt, I honestly want to work things out. You can't just walk away from us."

"You chose that the moment that you took her from me. I would say sorry Matt, but I don't see any reason to apologize to you."

Matt stood there feeling helpless and guilty as he watched Jeff walk away. Matt had talked to everyone that he could think of. Everyone in the business that knew Matt and Jeff could see what trouble they were in. Things were so tense between both of them that Vince McMahon himself had pulled them both aside and told them to get their acts together. It was the only reason that Jeff was even agreeing to do matches, and appearances with Matt.

"Hey Matt is there anything wrong?"

Matt heard a voice but didn't pay much attention to it; he was lost in his thoughts. He didn't move at all until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Matt, what's wrong?" He looked and saw Amy standing next to him. It had been a long while since Matt and Amy had split. It was a hard and messy break up, but now they had moved on, Amy had helped bring Team Xtreme to an all time high and both had decided it would be best to try and stay on friendly terms.

"Hey Amy, have you talked to Jeff lately?"

"I talked to him a few times. He's really hurt Matt."

"But I didn't tell her to do any of it. I didn't ask her to, she just did."

"It's what you wanted. That's the part that is hurting Jeff the most."

"How can I apologize if he won't listen to me? I honestly never thought that Lorelei would do that."

"Well you figure out how to fix it, just know that it does need to get fixed not only for the careers, but for the sake of family."

Matt didn't say another simply walked away and went to his room. There was nothing else that he could do besides the one thing that he knew would hurt him deep inside.

He grabbed his phone and dialed the one number that he had been avoiding for a week. His heart pounded as the phone began to ring. He had barely been able to think about her, now to hear her voice, and possibly hear the pain that she has been in. Matt was beyond nervous when he heard her pick up the phone. All of his emotions came rushing back over him as he heard her voice again. He sighed, and smiled a bit before he spoke to her.

"Hiya Lee."

"Matthew, is that really you?"

"It's really me sweetie."

"Oh my god, it's so good to hear your voice. I was beginning to think that I would never hear from either you or Jeff again." She let out a sigh of relief and began to cry. "I thought that I had screwed everything up."

"Lee are you crying?"

"Only a little bit. I'm sorry, I've been holding everything in and I guess just hearing you has just brought it all out."

"Oh I'm so sorry I didn't think that things were that bad."

"Matt tell me, how's Jeff doing? Are the two of you doing any better? Please, please tell me that things are ok between the two of you."

Now it was Matt's turn to shed a few tears. "We haven't spoken in a week. I've tried so many times and he just walks away from me. Lee he's really crushed by what happened. Why did you do it?"

Lorelei stayed quiet for a few minutes not knowing how to honestly answer Matt's question.

"Because of you." She finally answered. "I could say because I didn't want to risk the relationship between you and Jeff, because that was another big reason. I could say because I knew that it would be too hard to work things out, but you know I don't really walk away from challenges. There were a lot of little things but the big one was you."

"But you told me that you didn't love me like that. You looked me straight in the eyes and told me that you would never allow yourself to feel that way about me again."

"And all of that was and still is true. But Matt my feelings for you will always be some of the strongest emotions that I will carry around with me for the rest of my life. I saw your face that day and I knew that I couldn't see that over and over again. I knew that I wouldn't and couldn't carry out a relationship with you; but I could cut out mine with Jeff to make things easier for you."

"Lee you shouldn't have done that."

"I had to Matt, it was the only thing I could do to make you a little bit happier."

"But what about Jeff? What about yourself? Did you ever think about what would happen to the two of you once you did what you did?"

"No Matt I didn't. I just saw you."

Matt put down the phone and hung his head. He knew at that moment that Jeff was right. It was because of him, he had betrayed his own brother.

"Lorelei listen to me closely; you cannot just give up Jeff because I had one emotional moment."

"It's more than that Matt, a lot more than that."

"I know that, and I know how hard it's going to be to see the two of you together. But I know that I can't rob Jeff of the chance to be happy. Please Lorelei call him and talk to him."

"He won't pick up my calls." She started crying harder. "I want to be with him so much, I'd give up everything for him and he won't even call me back."

Matt began to feel guiltier by the second. He didn't realize that his feelings were causing so much devastation to the two people he cared about most.

"Just keep trying, I'll work on him too. We can fix this I know that we can. Lee I never wanted you to give up Jeff."

"I know that you didn't but what you wanted I couldn't give to you."

"And I will always wish that you could. Nothing will ever change my feelings for you; it's a love that's deeper than anything that I've felt for anyone. But I've been happy all these years without you loving me. I've fallen in love and had great relationships. I will be able to do that again. It was selfish of me to make you believe that giving up Jeff was the only thing that would make things ok. You need him, and he needs you more than you realize. I will be fine."

"Matt I don't want to take the chance. It's better if I just leave the two of you alone."

"I am going to be fine, and you are going to call Jeff and work things out with him."

"Are you sure about this? I won't unless you are honestly going to be ok with it."

"I am going to be just fine. I have to go now but I want you to call me and tell me that you are on your way to working things out with him."

"OK if that's what you want."

''It is. I'll talk to you soon I hope."


	7. Twist of Fate ch 7

The two of them hung up the phone in tears and still feeling absolutely horrible about what had happened. Lorelei had blown off any feelings of Jeff's for Matt. Here she was again getting caught up in her feelings for Matt when she swore that she wouldn't do that. She sat still for a few minutes thinking about what she had done. Tears came down faster and harder as she realized that she had just ruined something that could have been amazing. How could she have done that? Matt had never before ruined any other relationship that she had pursued. Now all she could think of was Matt's face riddled with pain. When she stopped concentrating on Matt she thought about Jeff. Jeff who was so shy and private in every aspect of his life. He was a mystery to so many people, sensitive and artistic. To Lorelei he was an open book, an amazing person, and someone that she could spend days on end with without once getting bored.

For the first time all week she sat there and thought about what she had done to him. If Matt was right then she must have severely hurt Jeff. She didn't know how long she had spent crying when there was a knock on her bedroom door.

"Lorelei, everyone is getting worried about you. Can I come in and talk?"

It was Lorelei's roommate. All of her friends had seen a major change in her within the last week. She had not talked to anyone about what she was going through. Now she needed someone to cry with. "Come in." She said trying to calm herself down a bit.

"Oh sweetie, what happened?"

And that night Lorelei talked to someone else besides Matt about how she felt and what she had done. By the end of the night she knew that she needed to call Jeff and fix things. She was wrong in allowing old feelings for Matt hurt both of them so much. If she would be able to get Jeff on the phone she knew that she could get him to forgive her. At least she hoped that she could get him to. At this point she was not even sure. All day long all she heard was the conversation that she and Jeff had had that night. Now it was ringing in her head louder than ever. The rest of the worlds problems had been drowned out by the painful way Jeff had tried to beg her to change her mind.

"I just don't understand why you would do this." Jeff had said after moments of silence.

"Jeff I can't do that to Matt. He's your brother; he's my best friend. He came to me and told me how he felt. What was I supposed to do? I can't just ignore anything that he's going through."

"What about what you're doing to me? What about you? How does nothing else matter?"

"Please Jeff, don't get angry; all this is hard enough as it is. I can't bear to have you angry at me as well."

"Lee you know that I will always love you but how would you like me to feel right now?"

"Hurt, upset, anything but angry. Please just understand that I love you and I'm not trying to do this to hurt you."

"You're just thinking about Matt right now though. I can't believe that you want me to sit here listening to all this crap that you're feeding me about not hurting Matt without getting angry!"

"Jeff you know as well as I do that we cannot carry on this relationship with things between you and Matt being so messed up."

"Of course we can. I refuse to believe that Matthew is going to be the downfall of something that is great; and you know as well as I do that if we stay together we are going to be something amazing."

"Of course I do Jeff. I could stay with you for years and never once regret it. But not like this Jeff. Matt is a wreck, I'm torn up inside, and you barely care. Jeff it isn't like you to throw off any regard for his feelings or opinions."

"Why shouldn't I? He did the same thing to me. I see no reason why he should ruin this."

"This is what I mean Jeff. You need to fix things with him. I need to fix things with him. If the two of us are going to be together than things need to be right all the way around."

At that point Jeff's angered melted in desperation. "Lorelei you aren't really going to leave like this are you? I mean you wouldn't do this to me."

"Jeff I am not trying to do anything to you. I am trying to do what I think is right."

"I've loved you for years. You told me you loved me and it felt like a world of stress and hardships melted away." Once Jeff stopped feeling so angry he began to cry. "Is there anything that I can say?"

"I'm sorry Jeff. There's nothing that you can tell me that would make me change my mind. Maybe sometime in the future we can try once more; when the circumstances are better and things are right between you and your brother. I love you Jeff Hardy don't you ever forget that."

Lorelei never knew what Jeff was going to say after that. She hung up the phone before Jeff could get another word in. Although she didn't want Jeff to be angry with her it was easier for her to handle than hearing him cry and hearing the pain and desperation in his voice.

She could only imagine that his heart was breaking as badly as hers was and that they had both cried themselves to sleep that night.

Now she wanted to talk to Jeff more than ever and take back all that she had said. She knew that there was still tension between Matt and Jeff but for once Matt was right. She had put so much energy into him, it was time for her to move on. But knowing that Jeff was probably still hurt and upset she waited a few more days before calling Jeff. She figured it was best if she let him have a bit of time to deal with his pain.

But when she started calling all she got was his voicemail.

"Jeff, it's me. I know that you know it's me and that's why you won't pick up. I don't blame you really. I was horrible to you, but believe me I didn't mean to be. Please Jeff call me back I really want to talk to you. I need to tell you something. Please call me back ok? I love you Jeff."

All voicemails that she left for him were pretty much the same. Any messages that she sent him were unanswered. She didn't know how to get through to him.

"Jeff don't you think that you should pick up?" Amy said looking at the phone ringing.

"No not really. These days I only get calls from either Lorelei or Matt."

"So why don't you pick up?"

"Because I don't want to have anything to do with Matt, and it is far too painful to talk to Lorelei."

"Well how do you know what they want to tell you if you won't talk to them?"

"I don't need to know what they are going to say."

"Jeff, don't you think you should tell Matt that you're working on going solo?" Amy took his hand. "I know that it's painful Jeff. And I know that what Matt did was terrible. He didn't mean to do it but it happened and sooner or later you will have to deal with it. Matt needs to know that you want to go off on your own."

"You are probably right Amy. I just can't stand to look at him, or hear his voice. He was supposed to be my brother."

"And he still is. Jeff if you talked to him at all then you would know that he's been trying to fix things."

"I'm not ready to fix things. I just want to be left alone by the both of them. He's probably off trying to win her back. I can't just sit here and pretend that it's all going to be ok."

"Oh Jeff if that's what you think that Matt is doing no wonder you don't want to talk to him." She stood up and looked at Jeff. "I know that you are hurting Jeff, but remember that you aren't the only one that has lost a huge part of their lives. You walked out on both of them and refuse to go back. If you can't see that they are both hurting too then maybe you don't deserve either of them. I'll see you ringside tonight." She smiled at him and patted his arm before walking away.

Jeff looked down at his phone and saw that once more Lorelei was calling him. He sighed and felt a pain deep inside of him. He closed his eyes trying to keep himself from crying. Amy was right if he didn't let them apologize then he was no better. They deserved their chance to try to mend things. Matt deserved to know that he had destroyed Jeff's trust in him that Jeff was going to go off on his own. Lorelei deserved to have a bit of closure. At the thought of her name Jeff saw her face spring into his mind. He saw her smiling and her brown eyes dancing. Her beautiful, curly hair falling down all around her face as she began laughing.

He grabbed the phone in one short impulsive move. He didn't know what he would say he just wanted to talk to her and hear her voice.

"Hello" he said hoping that he had picked up before the voicemail picked up. "Hello." Jeff waited a few seconds before putting the phone down. He had been a few seconds too late.

It was probably better that way he thought to himself. It would be better if he went to talk to Matt and tell him the truth before talking to Lorelei. He got up from the table and went in search of Matt.


	8. Twist of Fate ch 8

The knock on the door startled Matt. He was lost in a world of horrible thoughts. Matt had spent the last few days worrying that no matter how hard he tried he would never get Jeff back.

"Hey Matt," Jeff said when the door opened.

"Oh thank god. Jeff I have been trying to get you to talk to me for days." Matt grabbed Jeff and pulled him into a hug. "I am so happy that you finally came to talk to me. Come on, come sit down. We need to talk."

"I know we do. I think that I should go first though ok? I have heard all the voicemails, all the apologies now I need to say something."

Matt nodded his hand and sat down on the hotel bed. "Go ahead."

"Amy told me that I would be no better than you if I didn't give you the chance to make things better between us. She was right about that, I wouldn't be. I'm here to tell you that I don't know when things will be better. I don't really know if they will ever be the same. Right now I'm not interested in trying to make things ok between us. I still feel the same way I did the last time we talked. We've been doing our matches together and we work together just fine. I mean we always have that's why we made it here right?" Jeff paused knowing that what he said next would hurt Matt and shock him for days. "I'm going off on my own."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm leaving the Hardy Boys. I've worked it out with Vince and I'm starting a solo career."

"Jeff you wouldn't do that. You love this tag team just as much as I do. This has been our lives."

"Yeah Matt it has been and now it isn't. I need more out of life for myself and I need a break from you."

"Is this because of Lorelei? Jeff I called her and told her-"

"Matt I don't want to know about anything that you say to her. This is about us. You betrayed me when you did what you did and I can't trust you. But it's also other things. You feel it too. We need a break from tag team. I want to prove my worth on my own. I'm going to prove my worth."

"I'm sorry Jeff, I really am. I am sorry about everything. I have been killing myself over and over again for what I did. I didn't realize that she would do what she did. But I know why now and I know that it's because of what I did that caused this whole mess. I am really sorry about all this and I don't want this to destroy us. If you want to go out there and do your own thing then go ahead. I just ask that you do not let my mistake tear up an amazing career together."

Jeff stood looking at Matt trying to figure out if he was sincere in what he said.

"In a week we'll both get time off. When we get back we'll be doing our own things. Vince has a plan for you too so don't worry about that."

"I'm not Jeff I'm worried about you. I'm worried about what will happen if you keep holding all of this in. I don't care what you do to me or say to me. I just want to know that you can forgive me."

"I wish I could say that I can. I want nothing more than to have my brother back, but you took something so important from me. I don't know if I can ever look at you the same way again."

Jeff turned to walk out of the room. He had done what he set out to do and had no reason or desire to stay in Matt's room.

"No wait Jeff. I don't want you to leave just yet." Matt got up and took hold of Jeff's arm in a gentle pleading way. "I need to tell you something and I know that you don't want to hear it but it might help you deal a little better."

Jeff stood still debating whether or not to stay. This time it was Jeff that nodded and sat down on the bed.

"When you told me what you did that night in the hall I went back to my room. I won't pretend that I wasn't hurt and taken back by what you said because I was. But I came back and I thought about everything and I realized that it was all because I wanted things to go wrong for you. That was terribly wrong for me to want something like that to happen. I would give anything to be able to take it back. I called Lorelei because of what you said to me; to see if it was really true. I needed to hear it first hand. The funny thing is that she did do it for me. I thought that she would say that she somehow still loved me. She didn't though. She said that she loved you so much and wanted to be with you but all that she could see was me the day that I went to her house."

"Matt why are you telling me this?'

"Because I realized then that you were right. It was a huge betrayal of your faith and love. I never meant it to be but that is what it became. Lori told me flat out that she didn't want me. She told me that she could not give me what I truly wanted from her so she gave me the one thing that she could. But she wants you Jeff and only you."

"Matt I know that but that isn't the point. She gave me up for you. There isn't an ounce of feeling for me that she has for you."

"Jeff if you would talk to her you would see that you are wrong." Jeff began to cry and Matt sat down next to him. "You want to walk out on me that's fine, I deserve it. Lorelei was only trying to do what was best for the both of us. She thought of our relationship and then she thought of me. If I hadn't shown up that day who knows if she still would have walked away from you. But I do know her and if she knew that we were having problems because of her she would have walked away anyway."

"But she didn't do it for us, she did it for you. How can I ever begin to measure up to where you are in her eyes?"

"You already have, and you've already passed me. Please Jeff don't walk away from her. Give her a chance. You know that you want her and need her. Don't deny yourself something that good because you are angry with me."

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"Because I love you man why else? You are my brother and there is nothing in this world that can ever make me stop loving you."

"I have to go now." Jeff wiped his face. "I guess I'll see you at our match then."

Matt stayed silent and watched Jeff walk across the room. As Jeff opened the door Matt told him one more thing.

"Dude, I know that this changes nothing between us but I do hope that you will be able to use it to change things with Lorelei. I know that if I can't be with her that I want her to be with you. You and her are just about the best match that I can think of."

"Thanks" Jeff said softly and left the room.

Jeff stood by the entrance platform backstage with his phone in his hand. He had thought all night about what Matt had told him. There was still the problem of whether or not he could trust Lorelei as well. She had told him that she couldn't see him because of Matt. That was all that she said. Matt couldn't deal with it and she couldn't watch it tear either of them apart. How could he be with her when all he wondered was whether or not she would be thinking of Matt?

"Just call her man." Adam said walking up to him.

"How do you know?"

"Amy told me. She's been pretty stressed out over everything. Nobody wants to see the Hardy Boys go out because of personal problems."

"Right, thanks Adam. I'll think about that."

He dialed Lorelei's number to leave a quick message before he had to go out and wrestle.

"Hey Lee sweetie, if you don't know already it's me, Jeff. Um I just wanted to tell you I got all the messages and everything. I- I'm sorry about, well ya' know about not calling back sooner. I hope that soon enough I'll talk to you again." The music hit for Jeff's entrance. "OK well gotta go. Bye and I love you Lee- always." He hung the phone throw it off to the side and ran out to do his job.

Matt stood silently in the background simultaneously hurting and smiling. Finally something had gotten through to Jeff. And for the first time in weeks Matt did not worry so much about how Jeff was handling everything.


	9. Twist of Fate ch 9

Lorelei had gotten Jeff's message annoyed that she wasn't around when he had called. Her heart leapt when she heard his voice on her phone. After days of calling with no answer he had finally called her back. His voice was quiet and soft. There was something in his tone that gave her a bit of hope. She recognized some of what he was feeling in her. There was the same hurt and desire. The same mix of wanting and not knowing how to go about it once more. Lorelei held the phone in her hand not knowing whether or not she should call him back at that moment. Her hands twitched over the numbers on her phone. She knew that Jeff would probably be doing a post match cool down or something of the sort. The desire to talk to him was so strong that she didn't want to leave a message and risk missing his call again. She had been watching all the matches that she could just to see Jeff's face. There was a passion that lit Jeff up when he was in the ring. His sheer determination to make a name for himself in the industry could inspire anyone to go to the same great lengths in whatever they wanted to achieve. Lorelei loved seeing that in Jeff. There weren't many instances when she could see the same drive in him. She decided that it would be best to leave him a message if he didn't pick up rather than letting him think she didn't want to talk to him.

"Hey Jeff I know that you are probably somewhere trying to shake off the aches and pains of the night. I got your message and I'm so glad that you called me. I have been waiting to hear your voice for so long. I miss you a lot. I'm so sorry about what I said and did to you. Call me back ok?"

She hung up the phone and waited up just about as long as she could hoping to get a call from him but the phone was silent all night long.

Jeff heard her message and felt butterflies in his stomach that he hadn't allowed himself to feel for her in a few weeks. Knowing that the same strong feelings were coming back he thought it best if it was he this time that told Lorelei that things would not work out for the best.

Lorelei was awakened by her phone ringing early in the morning.

"Hello," she answered very sleepily.

"Hey Lee," Jeff said nervously.

"Jeff?"

"Jeff," he answered a little amused by how disbelieving she was. "I'm sorry it seems like every time that I call I am waking you up."

"Oh No don't be sorry. I am just a little surprised that you would be up this early. You work late nights and the sun is barely out why would you be up so early?"

"I never really went to sleep. I've been doing a lot of thinking since last night and I thought that it would be best if I were honest with you. You deserve a lot more than me ignoring you."

"I can understand why you would want to do that."

"You always understand no matter what the situation. That is one of the best things about you. No matter how bad you are hurting you can still make other people feel ok."

"Hey it's what I was born to do. So what is it that you wanted to talk to me about? I mean there is a lot for me to say to you but I have a feeling that you are going to ask to go first anyway."

"You are right about that. And I wanted to talk to you about us."

"Oh really what about us? I hope that you aren't going to tell me something that I don't want to hear."

"Lori," Jeff's tone all of a sudden changed from a bit playful to serious.

"Uh Oh It is something that I don't want to hear. You are going to tell me that you can't forgive me or see me ever again."

"Lorelei before you babble and exaggerate I think that I should talk."

"I do not exaggerate or babble!"

"Please Lorelei let me speak. I was up all night thinking about you. I can honestly say that it was all wonderful thoughts. Anytime I think about you I have such great thoughts. There isn't one thing about you that I can't fall in love with over and over again."

"Well this sounds like a bad start to bad news, or really good start to great news," she said with a bit of a laugh.

"I love you always and I want you to know that. I just can't talk to you about us."

"What do you mean?"

"Lorelei if I do that then I start to wonder how I measure up against Matt and your feelings for him. I don't think there will ever be a time when I won't wonder if you are thinking about Matt."

"But Jeff I don't think about him. You have been the only thing on my mind."

"It doesn't change anything. You left me to make him happy. What am I supposed to do with that?"

"I don't know Jeff. Get angry, yell, throw things, cry, then forgive me. It was a bad choice and a huge mistake. I was trying to salvage whatever relationship the three of us had together."

"You were trying to make things easier for Matt."

"Jeff please don't do this. You know that I have a long past with Matt and something like that doesn't just disappear over night. Especially when it comes smacking you in the face after half a decade of ignoring it."

"That is the thing that I cannot compete with. I will never be as special as Matt."

"Jeff that is only true because you are more special to me than Matt has ever been. Please Jeff. I will fly out to meet you wherever you are. I'll hop a plane right now and we can have dinner together, we can have breakfast together. Tell me what you want me to do and I will do it."

Jeff stayed silent for a long time. He wanted to tell her to come to him. He wanted to say that he would go to her. He wanted to be able to say without a shadow of a doubt that he could love her and be loved just as hard in return. Instead he swallowed it all. "I don't want you to do anything. It's just right now I don't know what to feel with you."

"Jeff you know that you're safe with me. You have always been safe with me. Don't do this to me. Not after all these years, don't you go and shut me out."

"Lee don't you worry you will always be a part of my life. I just don't know how to deal with anything right now."

"Tell me to go to you. We'll spend the day figuring out what happens."

"Sorry Lee I can't tell you to do that. You are a wonderful person and I can't stop loving you; but I also can't stop thinking that I will never add up to Matt. I just wanted to call you to tell you that."

"So- so this is it? You tell me that you are a little insecure and because of that we can' work our problems out? OK fine if that's how you want it. Thanks for calling and telling me. Well I guess that in a few months time I'll hear from you again. Be well Jeff Hardy and don't get injured." She hung up the phone before all emotion spilled over into something that Jeff didn't deserve.

Jeff was right for feeling the way that he did. She had been the cause of all his insecurities and she wasn't all that surprised when he said that he couldn't work around it at that time.

The entire day Lorelei walked around in a fog not knowing what was happening around her. How could she just simply sit in classes and at work while her relationship with Jeff was crumbling? Standing up in the middle of class she knew then that she had to go to him and convince him to take her back no matter what it would take. She walked out quickly when she realized that all the class had begun to stare.

"Matt," she said once she heard someone pick up the phone. "Where are you guys going to be between tonight and tomorrow? I'm at the airport and I need to know where to fly to. I'm not going to let him say no to me because he wants to stay hurt to avoid any other feelings. I'm going to talk to him and get him back."


	10. Twist of Fate ch 10

Lorelei waited at the airport for three hours before she finally got on a plane to Seattle. She was shivering from nerves and excitement. In a few short hours she would be with a man that she had loved in one form or another for more than half her life.

Stepping off the plane Lorelei saw that it was raining; not a big surprise to her seeing as how she was in Seattle. She didn't bother to pick up an umbrella. There was something cleansing and awakening about the rain falling down on her.

In a few blocks she had the fortune to catch a cab to the arena where Matt and Jeff were doing a short simple tag match that night. There was no way for her to get in especially not backstage so for another two hours she stood enjoying the rain and getting a hold on her emotions.

When the wrestlers starting walking out one by one they all looked at her standing there wondering if she was a crazy fan of someone. No one understood why she would stand there all this time now shivering from standing outside drenched from head to toe.

Jeff walked out and looked to see what had everyone talking. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped to see Lorelei standing there. He stopped short not knowing what to do or say.

"Go on Jeff she's here for you." Matt said pushing Jeff in her direction. "Don't give her up Jeff."

Jeff nodded and walked towards her. "What are you doing standing out here?"

"I didn't know where you were staying and I couldn't get inside. I had to wait to tell you that- . "

"Lori" Jeff said interrupting her and wrapping his jacket around her. "You are freezing you're going to get so sick standing out here. Come with me we'll get you dried up and then you can explain to me what you are doing here."

"That would be nice thanks."

Jeff did not say a word the entire ride back to the hotel. He was amazed that Lorelei had spent hours in the rain for him. Especially after the way they had left their last conversation. He hadn't meant to sound so mean or unfeeling. He just didn't know any other way to get across his point. He had been in love with her for years, or at least the idea of her. Lorelei was just about perfect in every way in the eyes of Jeff. That had lasted for so long until she shattered that image. That was the main reason that Jeff didn't know how to go about their relationship. She was no longer perfect. She was flawed and he was unsure how to feel about it. There were so many emotions that were welling up inside Jeff. The most surprising thing about it was that Jeff was feeling happier than anything else. He hadn't expected to feel happy when seeing her for the first time. Here she was sitting in his car and all he could do was look at her and smile.

"Ok you've smiled at me since we got into the car Jeff. I think maybe you should say something instead of smiling." Lorelei finally said when they were walking towards his hotel room.

"I don't really know what to say. There's so much that I am thinking and I don't quite know how to put it fully into words. I'm so shocked that you are here and that you stood in the rain. I'm overly happy to see you standing in front of me right now. And nothing that I can think of to say seems to explain the true weight of everything that I am feeling."

"Jeff before I go inside there I want to say something to you. Now when I'm done saying it you can either let me in or slam the door in my face. I don't know which one it will be I just know that it'll be easier to do it now than later on."

"Alright go ahead." Jeff said to her. He was standing in the doorway a bit nervous about what Lorelei was going to say to him.

"After we talked on the phone I was angry. I hung up when I did so that I wouldn't take anything out on you. You have every right to feel the way that you do. I know that because of what I did you have these feelings and thoughts. I wish that I could take them back but I can't. I realized last night that you are my best friend. There hasn't been a day in my life when you don't cross my mind. I tell you everything about me and no matter what there you are standing by my side. That is love that I haven't experienced many times. It is true that I have feelings for Matt. I will always have feelings for Matt. But they will be sentimental attachments to a girl that I have long since left behind. I will give up everything to travel around the globe with you if that's what you want me to do. I sat in class last night thinking about how my life would be if I couldn't call you up and tell you anything. I was saddened by it. But then I thought what would my life be if I couldn't run to you for a hug, a kiss, a moment of comfort. No matter what Matt has been to me you have been my safe place. I'm not here to beg you to give me a second chance or that I realized I can't possibly live my life without you. I can live my life without those things from you and I've proven that to myself. I just don't want to do it. Here I am Jeff for you and no one else. Take me or leave me, but tell me now before you let me in the room."

Tears filled Lorelei's eyes as she looked at Jeff. He didn't move simply stood in one spot staring at her.

"Jeff" she said quietly. "I'll just go then. I'm sorry that I came out here and bothered you."

"Lorelei wait," he grabbed her arm. "I never said that I wanted you to go."

"You didn't say anything."

"I was trying to figure out the best thing to say."

"Oh and what did you decide on?"

"The best that I could come up with was come in and please stay the night. Stay the rest of your life if you want to." He smiled at her and took her hand. "There was nothing else that you could have said to me that could make me happier or more at ease than I am right now. Now come and get dried off I have some extra clothes in my bag you can use till yours dry off a bit."

"That would be much appreciated thank you." And for the first time all night Lorelei was relaxed and beginning to feel something else besides pain and worry.

"I still don't understand why you didn't just call my cell phone," Jeff said to her as he rifled through his bag for some dry clothes.

"By the time that I landed it was show time and I know that you usually aren't anywhere near your phone during show time."

"Are you sure that you aren't going to get sick? You're still shivering."

"I'm just a little cold that's all. Besides if I do get sick it's perfectly worth it to have you talking to me again."

Jeff smiled at her. "Here, try these on." He handed her a shirt and sweatpants. "It'll all probably be big but at least it will work."

Lorelei disappeared into the bathroom to change and get cleaned up. She was nervous and jittery and could not understand why. All the years that she had known Jeff never once did she worry so much about what she looked like than at that moment. Her make up was messed up from the rain and her normally well behaved hair seemed to go everywhere at once. She had hopped on a plane with nothing besides her purse and trying to make herself look what she considered decent was not looking like it was going to happen.

"Lori are you ever going to come out of that bathroom? I was hoping that we could have a nice night and talk things through. But I don't see how that is going to happen if you are going to be in there all night." Jeff sat on the bed itching to move around. He was forcing himself to stay still just as much as he was forcing himself to stay calm. His heart was racing and he knew if he moved around his nerves would simply get worse.

"I'm right here Jeffrey." Lorelei walked to the bathroom door and leaned against the frame. She smiled at him nervously. His opinion of her meant more to Lorelei than ever before and just thinking about Jeff rejecting her was too painful to entertain for even a fraction of a second.

"So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" she asked him after he had stayed quiet for a few moments.

"Uh- well I- we- me- I mean."

"Jeff you're babbling."

"Huh? Oh right- sorry. What were we talking about?"

"You want to talk about something."

"Me? I- uh- I honestly can't remember. All I can think about right now is you in that- looking like- well- like that."

"Me? Why? I look like a mess and I'm wearing your ratty old shirt. I'd use the pants but they are too big for me."

Jeff stood up and walked over to her and brushed away a few strands of her hair with his hand.

Lorelei looked at Jeff's face; on it there was an expression and a feeling that she had not before seen on him. The fact that she was seeing a whole new side of Jeff brought her nerves to a whole new level.

"I really do look like a mess." She said trying to lessen her nerves. There was a burning desire to have Jeff, in every sense of the word; but as much as she wanted that there was a bigger feeling of not being quite ready to add that new form of intimacy to their relationship.

"You are beautiful, now, yesterday, tomorrow, and forever." He said to her. A feeling so strong had never come over Jeff before. He knew that it had nothing to do with his physical needs or desires. For whatever reason when he looked at her he had a need to be with her and nothing more. Lorelei's presence in a room was more than enough to make Jeff happy, and romantic.

"Jeff I just don't think- " her sentence was interrupted as Jeff leaned in and kissed her. "I really- " she tried pulling back from him. "I don't think that we should be doing this."

"Shouldn't be doing what?" he asked not letting go of her.

"No, really Jeff." She said pulling back again.

"Lee is there something wrong?" Jeff pulled back a bit and looked at her face. "You seem upset about something."

"No not upset really. I'm just not sure if I'm ready for all this between us."

"Oh I see." He said. Jeff let out a little laugh and smiled.

"What is so funny to you?" she asked a little offended.

"Don't get mad or anything Lorelei. I wasn't trying to pull anything here. I just wanted to kiss you. I saw you standing there and I just needed to hold you. I promise Lee that I would never try anything unless I was completely sure that you were ok with it." He stroked her face. "You really are gorgeous and I'm sorry if I seemed like I was trying to do anything." He gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. "Come on I'll order some room service and we'll spend the night talking or playing cards or anything else that you think you'd like to do."


	11. Twist of Fate ch 11

Lorelei woke up with the sound of her phone alarm. She looked over and saw that Jeff was still holding her. She smiled knowing that she had finally spent a night with Jeff the way that she had wanted to for some time. There was something comforting and satisfying about waking up in his arms.

They had spent the night talking and eating and finding ways to amuse themselves. She had asked him how things were with Matt and Jeff was honest with her. They had only talked once since that one day. It was Matt that had convinced Jeff to call Lorelei in the first place. And all though Matt was the one that had given him the o.k. to be with Lorelei they were still barely talking. Jeff was finding it hard to forgive Matt for the things that had happened.

"Jeff you should talk to him," Lorelei told him as they were lying in bed falling asleep. "He means to do what's best and nothing more."

"It's just hard Lee."

"I know baby but there has to be a way to fix things."

"I don't know that there is." He took in a deep breath and told her what he didn't want to tell her; at least not that night. "I'm going solo. We're breaking up the tag team."

"What?"

"Sshh." He laid her head back down his chest. "Don't worry about that now. I just want tonight to be about us. I don't want to talk about Matt. I've spent the last month thinking about the mess between me and him and I just want to focus on how wonderful it is to hold you."

Lorelei climbed slowly out of bed knowing that Jeff is a night owl and loves to sleep in. Checking in the bathroom to make sure that her clothes were dry she went to go get dressed. Although she wanted to spend more time with Jeff she still had classes and responsibilities that she needed to take care of back in Pittsburgh.

There was no way that she would leave without saying good bye to Jeff; but she didn't want to wake him up. So instead of waking him up she grabbed the hotel stationary and a pen.

_Jeff-_

_I didn't want to wake you seeing as how you looked so peaceful sleeping in bed. I loved every minute of last night. Please don't think that I am trying to run away from anything there are just so many things back home that I have to take care of. I wish that I could stay in your arms all day long. I hate to leave but I think its better that I leave while you're sleeping. Knowing me I would give in to whatever pleading you would have done seeing me leave. And it wouldn't be too hard to talk me into it seeing as how I already want to stay with you. _

"So then stay," A deep groggy voice told her. Lorelei stopped writing and turned around.

"Are you reading my mind?" she said with a smile.

"This is me you're talking about. I know that you're sitting there telling me how sorry you are that you have to leave."

"And how do you know that? I could be saying that I never want to see you again."

"Right I'm sure that you would do that. You rarely say what you are ever feeling but you can write beautifully and it's what you usually do."

"O.k. so you know just about every detail that has to do with me, I give."

"I know that you were trying to be polite but you should've waken me up." He said getting out of bed and walking over to her.

"It wasn't just trying to be polite I know that you were going to ask me to stay."

"Well what's so wrong with that?" Jeff said hugging her. "I just want to be able to spend some time with you that's all."

"Jeff I have a life back home. I have responsibilities and things to take care of."

"And you said last night that you would give it all up for me."

Lorelei smiled and laughed a bit. "If it meant keeping you of course I would; the better question would be do you really want me to?"

Jeff sighed and smiled at her. "Of course not really; but it does have some interesting perks."

"Jeff if you know me so well then you know that if you aren't careful I will be persuaded to leave everything behind and it just might be that I'll regret it later on."

"Now that would be a tragedy. At least have breakfast with me before you decide to run off to your great life."

"I'm not running off anywhere Jeff Hardy. There is no place that I would rather be than here." She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. "It just so happens that there are things that I need to do. I've made promises that I have to keep."

"Like what?"

"Well jobs and things like that."

"What? You aren't moving back home?" Jeff's expression said more than his words.

"I have a home Jeff and it's in Pennsylvania. I don't belong to Cameron anymore."

"I guess I just assumed that you were only up there for school then come back home."

"We'll talk about this another time ok? And if you want that breakfast with me then you better get a move on because I don't think pajamas are a very fashionable look anymore."

"Right," Jeff said looking at what he was wearing. "I'm going to take a quick shower first; any chance that I could get you to join me? I won't try anything just stand back and stare at you." He winked at her and moved to grab his things.

"Very nice Jeff, very nice," Lorelei said laughing.

While Jeff was showering Lorelei was surprised to hear a knock at the door. She went to answer not sure who to expect.

"Hey Lori," a very nervous Matt stood at the door fidgeting.

"Hello Matthew," she smiled and hugged him. "What are you doing here?"

"Well I wanted to say hi I just didn't think that last night was the best time."

"Come on in." she said moving so that he could enter.

"I don't think that's the best idea. Jeff and I still aren't on the best of terms. He really won't talk to me anymore." Matt hung his head still hurting from the whole situation.

"I know he told me. Listen I'm talking to him about it. Soon enough he'll see that it isn't your fault."

"I know that you think that but a lot of it is. Don't ask me to explain because it's hard to; I just wanted to know how things with Jeff went."

"Oh Matt they went amazing. We are exactly where I want us to be."

"Did anything- you know- happen? Anything more than talking?"

"Matthew I don't think that it is any of your business. But I'll tell you just because you are my darling friend. No Matt nothing happened."

"Oh ok right. I'm sorry I don't know why I asked that. I'm glad that things are better between the two of you. I'm going to go I don't want him thinking that I'm trying to pull anything here." Matt turned and started to walk down the hallway.

"Matt- Matt wait up," Lorelei called grabbing his arm in the hallway. "I'll talk to him about all of this. He wants to fix things I'm just not sure that he really knows how to."

"It's alright I don't really know how to fix things either. I have to go. You should get back to Jeff."

Lorelei grabbed Matt and hugged him fiercely. "What was that for?" Matt asked a bit confused.

"It's a thank you. I can see the pain written all over your face and I can't thank you enough for doing this for me."

Matt smiled at her. "You and Jeff are more than worth it. And don't worry about me Lorelei. I'm working some things out on my own and I'm actually feeling pretty good about myself. Don't get me wrong not that I'm not hurt to see you staying the night with Jeff; but ever since Amy I haven't felt totally like myself. I am starting to deal with all of that and moving on to a place in my life where I can be indestructible no matter what the circumstances."

"I am so glad to hear you say that Matthew." Lorelei smiled and gave Matt a hug and kiss on the cheek. "You are one amazing man Matt Hardy and that is why I have loved you all these years."

"I love you too Lorelei, now go on and get back in there before Jeff starts to worry."

"O.k., I will," she gave him once last quick hug and ran back to the room where Jeff was just turning off the shower.

"Hey I thought that I heard voices before, did anyone come by?"

"Matt," Lorelei answered deciding that it was the best way to try and talk to Jeff about his older brother.

"What did he want? Trying to tell you he loves you and wants you to run off with him?" Jeff said coldly.

"No Jeff, nothing like that at all. He actually came by to say hi to me and make sure that you didn't make a stupid mistake by throwing me out. Believe it or not he's happy to see us together and wants to fix things with you."

"Lori why do you keep pushing this?"

"Why are you ignoring all of it? He is your brother Jeff and there's nothing that you aren't going to be able to do to change that."

"I'm not trying to change it I just don't know why it's imperative that I have him be a part of my life."

"I know you Jeff Hardy and there is no one that you are going to be fully happy until you are able to tell your brother just about every last little detail in your life."

"Please Lorelei I don't want to talk about this right now."

"Then when Jeff? You didn't want to talk to me about it last night when you said that you were breaking up the tag team and you don't want to talk about it now." She threw her hands up in annoyance. "When Jeff? When?"

"I just want to be able to get through breakfast before I start talking about family drama is that fair?"

"No not really. I should be able to sit here and talk to you about this. You know that Matt is the reason that I am standing here right now? If it weren't for what your brother had said to me then I would not be standing here in front of you right now."

"And I am very grateful to him for that; but I still don't want to talk about all of this." He walked over to her and kissed her. "I just want to enjoy the morning with you, sulk when you leave and call you on the phone when I'm done with work tonight. I don't want my problems with Matt to be any part of that."

Lorelei sighed as a sign of defeat. "Fine I give we won't talk about it. But that doesn't mean that we aren't going to talk about it later. You owe Matt a thank you at the least. You know that what he said to the both of us got us off our butts and to this point right here."

"If it will get you off of my back I will say thank you to him."

"Thank you Jeff it would very much help."

"Then I will do just that tonight at the arena."

"Promise?"

"I promise. Now can we have a nice breakfast without talking about Matt?"

"As long as we don't have to talk about why I'm staying in Pennsylvania."

"It's a deal." Jeff said even though it was beginning to bug him. He didn't quite know why it was bugging him so badly. They had just gotten together it wasn't as if he were going to ask her to marry him tomorrow. But then again what would happen if he were going to ask her? Why was it that Jeff was even considering proposal? After everything that had gone wrong in his life why was he so ready to jump into something so big?

"Jeff are you with me?" Lorelei asked seeing the change of mood on his face.

"I'm sorry yeah I'm back."

"Where'd you go?"

"Don't worry about it just drifted into the world of me." He flashed her a smile and moved to finish getting dressed.

He tried as long as he could to stall Lorelei from getting on a plane back to her home. He didn't want her to leave. He would have loved to tell her to leave it all behind. He would have done anything to have the guts to tell her what he truly felt inside. Instead he told her to go live the life that she had spent so many years building for herself. He told her that he hoped that they would be able to talk and see each other much more often than they had a habit of. He felt a piece of his heart rip apart watching her enter the airplane terminal.

It was at that moment that he thought of Matt. How was it that Matt had watched her walk over to his very own brother without experiencing this sort of pain? True, Jeff was no where near ready to forgive Matt and move on; but he did gain a better understanding of the type of love that Matt would have to have for Jeff to do such a thing. Maybe Lorelei had a point to what she had said. Maybe Matt deserved a bit more than an apology. Jeff would possibly be able to lend a bit of compassion; maybe even a bit of understanding. What Matt was going through wasn't easy and he needed his brother.

Jeff began to feel awful that he had left his brother alone for so long.


	12. Twist of Fate ch 12

Jeff stood in shock for a few minutes at the realization of what he had refused to believe. He simply wanted to be angry at Matt for what he had done. Jeff wanted to know nothing more than his own pain. But now he could no longer say that. He stood wondering whether he and Lorelei would work. He wondered if she loved him more would she have stayed behind. Not that she wasn't in love with him, or that he honestly wanted her to stay; but maybe if she wanted to be with him more she would have stayed behind automatically. And how could she say that Cameron was no longer her home? How could she say that there was nothing left for her there? She moved away when Matt and Jeff had but Matt and Jeff had come back.

He forced himself to move and ran towards his car. He still had a bit of time to catch Matt and talk to him. He needed to lay aside his fears of Lorelei for the moment, and think about him and Matt. Although every part of him still wanted to stay angry he no longer had it in him to ignore what everyone was saying about Matt.

It was true that both Matt and Jeff had a bit of their own spirits die when they parted ways but Jeff found it more convenient then sitting down and talking to Matt about all of the hurt that he carried inside. He threw his car into drive and sped away thinking about how foolish he had been this entire time. Matt had tried to talk to him, tried to explain everything. And he had turned Matt away every time. His heart began to ache not only because of Lorelei but because he himself had betrayed his brother. Matt never left him behind no matter what the circumstances were; and here Jeff was leaving Matt behind at the very first sign of trouble. Lorelei admitted to Jeff that Matt had nothing to do with what she had done but he refused to believe that. And even now Jeff knew that Matt had done it unintentionally but he realized that Matt was never truly out to hurt Jeff. If that were true Matt could have split up the tag team first; or gotten to Lorelei and persuaded her to stay far away from Jeff. Instead Matt swallowed his own pride and his pain to do what was best by his brother.

Now it was Jeff's turn to do the same as he knocked on Matt's hotel room door.

The surprise of seeing Jeff standing within fifty feet of Matt was more than evident. Matt hadn't expected to really have a real conversation with his brother ever again. He was lost for words staring at Jeff who had a smile on his face mixed with nervousness and pain.

"I had to come Matt I didn't know where else to go," Jeff finally said breaking the silence.

Matt hugged his brother tightly before stepping aside to let Jeff in the room. "I thought that you would be with Lorelei today."

"She's gone, she left this afternoon. She said that she had things back home to do and that she's working on staying in Pennsylvania."

"I thought that she was going to wind up moving back home, or at least close by."

Jeff shook his head. "Matt I'm sorry man." Jeff looked up with tears spilling over onto his cheeks. He wasn't there to talk about Lorelei; he would deal with those feelings another time, right now he wanted to talk to his brother. "I didn't give you a chance to explain anything, I wouldn't listen to anyone. All I wanted to do was stay angry."

"I know Jeff," Matt sat down next to Jeff laying an arm around Jeff's shoulders. "And the truth is that I was to blame. I realized that after talking to Lorelei. I was so blinded by my feelings and jealousy that I didn't see what I was doing to you. I wanted her so badly that I didn't see anything else. I know that you're having a hard time with everything and you deserve someone like her. I do not want to take something like that away from you. And trust me when I say I'm not trying to."

"I'm sorry Matt I really am. I never gave you a chance, I should've trusted you. I don't know why I didn't. Thank you Matt, thank you for giving her back to me."

Matt smiled and hugged Jeff once more. "I'm glad that it's going to work out for the two of you." Even though Matt smiled Jeff could see the pain in his eyes. Matt had made an amazing sacrifice for the sake of his brother. There was nothing that Jeff could possibly do to repay him.

"You are hurting aren't you Matt?"

"Nah I'm fine," Matt said trying to dismiss what was bubbling beneath the surface.

"Matt I came here not only to thank you and apologize but to help you. When I saw Lori get on that plane and piece of me went with her. I know that you are dying inside when you see her. I'm here to talk Matt. I came here to talk to my brother."

It was then that Matt had begun to break down. His brother had come back to him and with open arms and love in his heart. He silently thanked God for this. Matt had been hurting since the day he told Lorelei to call Jeff and get him back. He had known nothing but regret and pain since Jeff had told him they were breaking up the tag team. And there was no one that he trusted enough to take all this to. He wouldn't dare go to Lorelei and his brother was not speaking to him. But now here was Jeff asking him to tell him and share in his pain. There was nothing that Matt could do but cry. Cry because he was grateful that Jeff was back, cry because he was trying to piece himself together, cry because he had let the love of his life go and cry because he was tired of feeling lonely.

"I'm sorry Matt, I hate knowing that I'm the one that made you like this," Jeff said to him.

"No Jeff it's not you." Matt looked up to see that Jeff was crying as well. "Jeff why are you- ?"

"Hey if you hurt I hurt."

"Jeff this isn't because of you, well not fully. I'm so happy that you're here but that's the only reason that I'd be crying because of you. I haven't felt like myself man, not since Amy."

"But Matt you told me that you put that behind you."

"You think it's easy? I said that so you wouldn't worry about me."

"Matt how can you still think of protecting me when you are the one that's hurting?"

"I'm your big brother it's what I do."

"You need to stop; I can take care of myself."

"I know you can but it doesn't change anything. I vowed that I would take care of you when mom passed away. We were all that each other had. Dad made sure that we were both as close as anyone could be. I can't just turn that off, no matter what it does to me."

"Well then talk to me now Matt. I know that there has to be a lot going on with you and I want to talk. I came here to talk to my brother and I won't leave until we do just that."

Matt smiled at Jeff and talked to him without hesitation. There was nothing that he left out. He had told Jeff how he had felt lonely and empty even before he and Amy had ended their relationship. He had admitted how he was hoping that Lorelei could fill that void and how he was devastated when she told him she would never return those feelings. He also told Jeff that there was no doubt in his mind that he did the right thing when he gave Lorelei the okay to win Jeff back. Matt was only regretting one thing that he hadn't gotten the chance to talk to Jeff sooner. He was slowly getting the pieces of his life back together and he was so afraid that Jeff would be the one piece that would always be missing. He told Jeff not to worry, that he was slowly getting over Lorelei and that he knew that she wouldn't be able to fix what was wrong with him only mask it.

It was one of the first times that Matt and Jeff had had a conversation that was so open. With two extremely introverted men it was hard for them to sit down and be completely honest. It was now that they broke down walls that they hadn't broken down before.

"I'm scared Matt," Jeff admitted to his brother as they talked. "I feel like she would've stayed if she liked me better. I just don't know what to think when she says that there isn't anything left for her in North Carolina."

"Jeff I'm sure that she didn't mean that as anything towards you."

"But that's not even all of it. I started thinking what I wanted to propose to her? I mean what would happen with that? I love Cameron I don't want to leave. What if she doesn't want to come with me?"

"Jeff are you going to pick out a ring this second?"

"No."

"Then worry about it when it happens. And I'm sure that what she said just came out wrong."

"I hope that you're right Matt," Jeff said still worried and hurting from watching Lorelei leave that afternoon.

When Lorelei's plane had landed in Pennsylvania she had replayed her conversation over and over in her mind with Jeff. What an idiot she was. How could she tell him there was nothing for her in Cameron? How could she insinuate that her job offers back here were more important than Jeff? All she wanted to do was hold on to the independence she had gotten used to. Instead she came off like she wanted nothing to do with Jeff's life.

"Great work Lor, make him believe you barely want him while he's all you can think about during the day." She smacked herself inwardly, cursing herself and still wondering why she was so harsh about everything.

Jeff could understand her wanting to live out her life. They were barely together, barely serious. But if things did get serious she would always be more than willing to give it up for him. All she wanted to do was make sure that she didn't lose her identity in him only to have to rebuild it if things didn't exactly work out. Why couldn't she put it to him that way? What possessed her to say those things to him?

On the other hand she was a bit annoyed. Why was it that she needed to stay behind to prove her feelings? She had always followed her own course and that wouldn't change now. He knew how independent she was what made him think that things would be different?

She sat on a bench waiting for her ride to show up. "You moron," she said out loud. "Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean you," she said to the man that had turned to stare at her baffled at why he was being talked to that way. Jeff is a bit insecure. She had turned it all over for Matt, where was that for him? That's what he needed; he needed to know that she would give anything up for him. "Great, how could I not see that?"

She grabbed her phone and walked to the quietest spot that she could find in the airport.

She checked her watch seeing that it was close to Jeff's show time knowing he wouldn't pick up the phone. But that was okay. She could apologize to his voicemail and get him to call her back. She wished at that moment that there wasn't anything holding her back. She wanted to hop on another plane straight back to Jeff but knew that it was totally unreasonable. She would most certainly regret not finishing school.

"Hey Jeff it's me. I just wanted to apologize how we left things today. I'm sorry that I left and said what I did. You are honestly more important to me than anything else around. This is just something that I have to see through. Call me tonight and we can talk about it more alright? I miss you already. Hope that you can spare some time to talk to me. Bye." She hung up the phone and let out a long deep sigh.

"Okay clear your mind Lorelei," she said trying to give herself a bit of a pep talk. "If you are going to get through today you're going to need to be clear headed. When he calls tonight you can say sorry and explain everything."

She had spent the entire day trying to keep her mind off of Jeff although she pulled out her cell phone every twenty minutes to see if she had missed his call or if he had sent her a message. When her classes were over she checked her phone more frequently until the phone finally did ring, the caller id showing that it was Jeff.


	13. Twist of Fate ch 13

Lorelei's eyes snapped open when she finally heard the phone ring.

"Jeff! What took you so long to call?" She asked the moment that she picked up.

"I'm sorry I had a lot of promotional stuff to do." He said a little surprised at how impatient she was. "What's going on with you? You seem a bit antsy."

"Yea sorry I am a bit." She took a deep breath and tried to calm down a bit. Jeff was not one to get angry or annoyed easily but he could easily begin to feel that way if she was continuing in that manner. "Sorry I snapped. I've been waiting for you to call me back all day. Did you get my message?"

"Yes sweetie I got the message and I called you back as soon as I had enough free time to call you."

"Right of course you did. Look I'm sorry about before at the airport and the hotel. I know I must have made you feel like crap because of what I said to you."

"No Lee you didn't- "

"Jeff I just walked away from you without an honest and real explanation."

"Lee you don't have to explain anything to me. I know that you have a life of your own and you need to keep going with it."

"But Jeff what you don't understand is that there is still something for me in Cameron, you. I have spent so many years on my own that I don't know how to just lay it all aside. I don't want to lose myself in this relationship. I want to find who I am while we're together. I want to be me while being with you. And right now I am here in Pennsylvania. I know it sucks that we're so far apart but its how things are right now."

"Lee I never wanted you to give all that up for me. I want you to be with me always but I know that's not possible. I have my career and you are working on yours. I just want to know that if this goes further you'll be willing to make a few changes to make my life and your life our life."

"Jeff believe me when I tell you that I am very willing to do that. I was smacking myself the whole way here. I should have said it nicer or something. It's just you know I'm an idiot and sometimes I don't say the best things. I mean not all of us can be as poetic and darling as my dear Jeff Hardy."

For the first time in the conversation Jeff laughed. It was actually the first time that day that Jeff had laughed. He had felt better but worse at the same time after talking to Matt. Nothing felt better than to have his brother back in his life, but he was still racked with guilt for leaving his brother by himself.

"So did you say thank you to Matt?" Lorelei asked a little afraid of the answer.

"Yes Lee I did. I said thank you and I talked to him."

"You mean talked? Like actually sat down and talked?"

"Yeah like a real conversation. You were right when you said that he only wanted the best."

"I usually am right Jeff, when are you ever going to accept that?"

"I guess never sweetie."

They talked for at least an hour trying to hold off what was inevitable. They were going to have to try a long distance relationship. They would have to see other couples holding hands and being together while they had to survive on phone calls and messages. They would have to make due with only hearing each others voices while they wanted to desperately hug kiss and flirt with each other the normal way.

"It's getting late." Jeff finally said looking at the time. He didn't want to hang up the phone but they both had an early start the next morning and needed to sleep.

"I know that it is. But I don't really want to hang up. That only means that we have to start with- "

"I know Lee." Jeff said interrupting her. "I don't like the idea either but that's how it is."

"So when's your next day off?"

"Not till next week. I've got a lot of things to do. We're leading up to a big pay per view and every always does press conferences and things like that. And I'm a big part of that this year seeing as how I'm the intercontinental champion."

"Well then I'll have to wait till next week to see you."

"I'll call you tomorrow."

"You better otherwise I'm flying right back to you to whoop your butt."

"Well in that case I won't forget."

"Good glad to hear that."

Lorelei and Jeff hung up feeling happy but felt an incurable sadness creep over them. They were together and they were happy about that. But how could they be truly happy when they were so far apart? Jeff was off traveling around the states wrestling while Lorelei tended classes and worked trying to establish her own career. They were such opposites in everything. She was headed into the corporate world and loved every minute of it. Jeff was traveling the world flying from turnbuckles and crashing through tables. Yet some how they fit perfectly together. Jeff was Lorelei's link to her carefree and adventurous side, a side that she couldn't live without. And Lorelei was Jeff's link to a more conservative side of himself, one that needed to be brought out every now and again so that he could keep himself alive.

Over the next few weeks they talked to each other at least twice a day, sending messages pictures and video clips to each other with whatever they had to do that day. It was the one way that they knew how to keep the passion alive and the depression at a minimum. It was Lorelei's first long distance relationship and the first relationship that Jeff had in quite a while. He was so wrapped up in other problems that he had that he hadn't noticed any other women, until he saw Lorelei.

There was something about her energy that calmed Jeff down and made him something more than he was before her. He knew that he had personal problems to work out, and he had to work out how to reunite the Hardy Boys. Oh he loved his solo career and Matt was enjoying his as well. They both were having fun discovering their lives without being with each other. They were on their own with the confidence of knowing that should anything happened they would always have their brotherhood to lean on. But there was nothing better than going in the ring along side each other and tag teaming. How could they not love it? The fans loved it as much as they did although the fan base only began to grow as Matt and Jeff ventured out on their own.

Matt barely talked about Lorelei and anything that happened between them. Sure they talked; they talked almost as much as she and Jeff did. But he never once brought up anything that he felt for her. True to his word he stood on the side lines watching as her relationship with Jeff began to blossom.

"So are you going back home for your break Matt?" Lorelei asked talking to him one night. "Jeff told me that the two of you are getting some time off."

"Yeah I got a few days off and I thought going home would be a good idea. I don't know if Jeff is coming with me though."

"Well I was hoping that the two of you would come up here and check out things up here."

"Oh uh that might be nice." Matt said trying to cover up how uncomfortable he truly was with the idea. He had been dealing with the fact that they were together but he had never actually seen the two together. And he knew that a few weeks of not being able to see each other would definitely bring out the romance between Lorelei and Jeff.

"I thought so," Lorelei said not picking up on the tension in Matt's voice. "I haven't seen you in the longest time Matt and I don't want another couple of years to pass where we don't actually see each other. It just seems like I'm always talking to you and never actually seeing and hanging around you."

There's a reason for that, I see you and I get weak Matt thought in his head. "Yeah I know. It's up to Jeff what he wants to do but sure I'll come out to you."

Lorelei let out a small squeal of excitement. "Oh thank you so much! I just know that the two of you are going to have a good time. I'll make sure of it."

"Lori as long as you are around I'll have a good time; even if we're sitting around in complete silence and staring into space."

"Matt you are too sweet. How is it that you can't find yourself a good girl?"

"I don't know, but I'm happy on my own. So when do you think would be a good day for us to come and bug you? I know that you are busy and everything and I don't want to ruin it for you." Matt said quickly changing the subject. The thought of Lorelei was painful for Matt. He still wanted her in every sense of the word and had a hard time keeping that in check when he saw her.

"No not at all. Summer session just let out and I'm free for another couple of weeks. I mean besides work, but I'm sure I can take a couple of days off. "

"Ok well Jeff get's off one day later than I do. But I can come out before him if that's ok."

"

A day all to myself with my Matthew? Of course I would love that."

My Matthew, the thought sounded so appealing to Matt that he had to end the conversation before he began to entertain the idea. "Well work it out with Jeff and I'll change my ticket. So then we'll see you in a few days."

"Lord," Matt mumbled to himself when he saw Lorelei standing at the gate waiting for him. She looked great in some low rise jeans and a tight cut of t shirt, one of his shirts. Everything about her looked great. Her eyes were dancing as she smiled and waved at him. He tried not to make it too obvious that his eyes roamed and took in every last curve on her body.

"Matt," she yelled making sure he knew that she was there. How could he miss her? She was the best looking one there.

"Lori," he said smiling and walking slowly to her fighting every impulse to kiss her and take her back to his hotel room right then. "Did you have to wait long?"

"Only fifteen minutes or so," she grabbed him and pulled him into a hug.

The scent of her perfume sent his head spinning. Everything about her was extremely seductive to him and all she was doing was standing there.

"Dear God." Matt muttered trying to get control of himself.

"What?" she asked looking at him curiously.

"Oh nothing, lead the way." He said trying to put distance between the two of them while in the end still checking her out.

What is wrong with me? I'm supposed to be getting over her. Matt began yelling at himself inwardly as he freshened up in his bathroom. "She's with Jeff, they are happy, she doesn't want you. She's said it before, you don't have a chance." He began saying to himself over and over as he looked in the mirror.

"Matt?" Lorelei walked up to the bathroom door. "Are you talking to yourself?"

"Just thinking out loud," he said opening the bathroom door. He was so close to her that an inch closer and they'd be kissing.

"You've always liked to do that," Lorelei said backing up her heart pounding. She smiled at him and tried to play off the nerves that had taken over her.

Matt's intensity didn't change. He stood leaning on the bathroom looking at her, barely noticing that he was. There was something about her that caught his attention, something that would always catch his attention.

"Matt- "

He looked at her and began to realize what he was doing. "Sorry Lori, I didn't mean to, I guess it's just habit."

"Hey what do you say we get some lunch huh? I know that I am hungry."

Matt smiled. "That sounds good to me." A public place sounded good to him, somewhere he knew he wouldn't be able to cause any trouble. He loved his brother and wanted him to be happy with Lorelei but he could feel every primitive urge in him start to surface. His feelings for Lorelei were so strong that he was completely unsure of what to do with them. If only he could be able to love her, and show her everything that he was feeling. He wanted to let her know how much he truly cared about her. Sure he had hurt her in the past. But hey that was years ago and the past is the past. But Jeff, he couldn't hurt Jeff. Jeff had forgiven him once and he couldn't take that for granted. Jeff was his brother and he would be there long after anyone else.

The conflict filled Matt all through lunch. Lorelei looked great, her hair in curls falling around her. The light make up she had on made her look amazing. Her large brown eyes seemed to bring him into another world; a world he wished was real but knew he couldn't be.

"I'm going to head into the bathroom." She told him.

"I think I'll join you- I mean in the men's room- oh you know what I meant." They both laughed and made their way to the bathrooms.

While walking out Lorelei walked straight into Matt. "Oh geese Matt, I didn't think that you'd be standing right there."

He grabbed her waist to keep her from falling back. "Sorry, I just thought I'd wait for you."

"Right, well let's finish up lunch and we can find something else to do." She was afraid to look up into Matt's eyes. She knew what she would see. They had been skirting around the fact that Matt had feelings for her. In fact they completely ignored it. But now here it was smacking them in the face. He had his arms around her waist and wouldn't let her go. The more accurate term would be couldn't let her go. It was instinct to grab her and keep her from falling but now he seemed frozen. After a minute Lorelei finally looked up at him, "Matt you are going to have to let go if you want to go anywhere else."

But Matt didn't hear anything; he didn't know anything except for the desire that took over him. He was lost in a fantasy world where she was his. He leaned in and wrapped his lips around hers kissing her softly but with all the passion that he had inside for her. He had forgotten about Jeff, forgotten about their relationship, the only thing that he knew was that he was in his own little heaven holding her and tasting the sweetness of her lips.


	14. Twist of Fate ch 14

For a moment Lorelei gave into Matt. She felt his lips on hers and she became the teenage girl that would forever harbor feelings for Matt. It was everything that she wanted, no it wasn't, it was everything that she wanted years ago. It was everything that she wished for before they had left their homes and moved on. A small voice in her head that was telling her that it wasn't right began to get louder and louder.

Lorelei pulled back and looked flustered and a bit angry. "Matt what was that? How could you? I mean you know that I'm with- "

Matt stared at her for a few moments trying to come to his senses. He was still so intoxicated from the kiss, still tasting her lip-gloss. "I- I'm sorry Lee. I don't know what happened. I didn't want that to happen, I let my guard down for a second I guess."

"What do you mean let your guard down? Matt you just kissed me! What am I supposed to tell Jeff? He'll never believe me if I say I didn't want anything to do with it. He'll walk away from me and I won't see him anymore and I'll hurt him again!"

"Lorelei," Matt grabbed her hands and steadied her frantic arm movements. He bent down to look into her eyes and tried to calm her down. "I'm sorry about what just happened. I don't know why it happened I can't explain it. You were there and I was holding you and I just- "

"Jeff, Matt, Jeff! Jeff!" It was all that she managed to get out. She was stunned by what he had done. She never expected to be caught in this position. Matt was always wonderful and trustworthy.

"We aren't going to say anything to Jeff," Matt said after a while. "He doesn't need to know."

"How is it that he doesn't need to know?" She asked him getting angrier. "You come out here for a day and he's trusting enough to think that nothing will happen and then- "

"Lorelei nothing happened. It was a stupid kiss, something that meant nothing."

"Then why do it Matt?"

"I don't know," Matt stated simply, and it was true. He had not idea why he had done that. He was just as confused as Lorelei was. Sure he hadn't dealt with any of his true feelings for her, just buried them deep enough to believe that they would never be able to surface. But he found himself staring at her and watching her every movement. He took in her perfume and wanted to keep that scent with him forever. He wanted to show her everything that she meant to him.

"Matt I know that we haven't talked really, about everything that happened between us. I know that you said you wanted me to be with Jeff. But we never really talked about how we were going to handle how you felt towards me." Matt shrugged. "I think that we need to talk about that. I know that it is hard for you. Trust me I know. I've watched you with tons of girls and it hurt me a lot to see you always happy with someone else. But we need to deal with the problem in front of us. It's going to be hard for us to be around each other if you won't fully admit what it is that is making you feel the way you are."

Matt dropped his head and thought about it. He didn't know how to respond. He wanted to have Lorelei in his life. But how could he keep her in his life when he couldn't stand to be within five feet of her? How could his feelings possibly be that strong for her? She was supposed to be the little sister that tagged around and you didn't mind. _She's supposed to be like another member of your family_, Matt tried reasoning with himself. And then another thought popped into his head. _She will be soon if her and Jeff keep up the way they are, he talks about her all the time, it's obvious the kid wants to spend his life with her. _ The thought sent a sharp pain through Matt's chest. How was he going to spend his life looking at the one that got away?

"Matt?" Lorelei asked after seeing that he was lost in thought. "Hey, Matt."

Matt looked up and saw that Lorelei was once again mere centimeters from his face. She broke into a smile that he found near irresistible. "Are you back?" She asked him still smiling.

"I'm back, sorry." He smiled back at her. How could he not have this woman in his life? She was always there for him and if he let her walk out of his life now he'd never be the same.

"I think maybe we should talk," Matt said to Lorelei. "But not here, let's go back to my room." Lorelei raised her eyebrows at the suggestion. "I promise I won't do anything more. I've come to my senses. I just want to work things out with you."

Lorelei nodded walking over to the table to deal with the bill. She was extremely unsure of going back to Matt's hotel room. She wanted to believe that Matt wouldn't do anything, but only minutes before he had kissed her. How could he? She was with Jeff, she had never been happier. All of this Matt knew and yet here he was trying to kiss her. She didn't know what else would happen if she went to his hotel room. She wasn't even sure if she could resist him if he did try something again. When she was clear headed she knew that she didn't honestly have any romantic feelings towards Matt anymore. But when he looked at her in that way of his, and kissed her putting all of his feelings into it. Every old feeling and wonderful memory came flooding back. She almost as if she were time traveling once he began to get romantic with her.

"You've been really quiet." Matt said to her once they had settled into the hotel room. "I know that this afternoon has been a bit weird but I don't want it to change anything between us."

"How can it not Matt? How can things not change after what happened? I know that you don't want to hurt either me or Jeff, but that is exactly what you are doing."

Matt looked into Lorelei's eyes and saw the confusion and hurt that she was experiencing. Matt sighed upset with himself for causing this. "I'm sorry Lee I really am. I know that we never really talked about my feelings for you. We talked about everything else except that. I never really wanted to talk about it. And then over the past few weeks we haven't really seen each other. I was trying to bury all feelings that I had for you; I guess that it just didn't really work."

"Well I think that maybe we need to talk about it now. I know that you are hurt from everything, and I'm sorry that I can't look and you and say that I love you with all my heart. I want to be able to tell you everything that you need to hear but right now you need to hear something that you don't want to hear. There are some mistakes that can't be fixed. And there are some things that you just can't get past. You and I are one of those things. All those years we've made so many mistakes and the timing was never right. It just can't be fixed Matt. Some wounds never really heal and everything that I felt, all that hurt, all that anguish, it just can't be erased. I will always love you Matt, and I want you to be a part of my life. But if this is how hard it's going to be, you trying to steal kisses and get little bits and pieces of me here and there- "

"No, Lorelei that isn't what I want at all." Matt interrupted her. "I know that everything I did back there was totally wrong. I don't really know why I did it, I just know that I was completely lost in my own fantasy world. I can't deny what you do to me Lee. You send me off the deep edge honestly. I don't know how to deal with any of this. I want you and Jeff to be happy I really do. But I find myself putting you into every fantasy that I can come up with. I find myself in this world where everything is exactly as I want it. I want to hold you in my arms and love you. This is not any of your fault," Matt said noticing that Lorelei now had her head down and seemed like she was crying. "It is just going to take time that's all."

She looked up at him and he saw the tears falling freely from her eyes. "I hate that it has to be this way Matt I really do. But when? When is it going to get any better?"

"I don't know Lee, I honestly don't know." Matt wiped the tears off her face. "You don't have to cry. Every day it gets a little bit better and soon enough we'll all be happy with the people that we were meant to be with."

"If things are getting better then what's with the kiss? How could you just kiss me like that and say that everything is getting better?"

"I have my set backs," Matt said trying to lighten the whole situation. He gave a smile and kissed her cheek. "I am so sorry that I did this to you just give me a bit more time. I need to have you around in one way or the other."

Lorelei sighed and looked out the window. "What about Jeff Matt? He's supposed to be coming tomorrow afternoon, what I am supposed to say to him?"

"Don't say anything Lee."

"What?"

"Please just leave this between us. It took a lot of time and effort to get Jeff to even let me back in his life and we're closer than ever now. If he finds out about this he'll never let me anywhere near him ever again."

"Well you should have thought about that before you decided to kiss me!" Lorelei said getting angry. How was she supposed to not tell Jeff?

"I wasn't thinking when that happened. I know it was horribly wrong and it makes it worse if we don't tell Jeff, but I don't want to lose my brother." Matt's tone and his eyes were pleading with Lorelei to agree with him on this. "Lee please, please. I love my brother more than life itself you know this. Whatever I feel for you is nothing compared to the love and loyalty I hold for him. I was caught up in another world. If I lose him over something that I never meant to do I- I'll- I don't know what I'll do without him," Matt said getting quiet.

Lorelei sat back down and looked at Matt, he was serious. He never meant for any of this to happen. She sighed once more and took Matt's hands in hers. "If it won't ever happen again then I won't tell him." She said quietly. It didn't sit right with her to not tell Jeff. But Matt was right, Jeff wouldn't even wait for an explanation. He would walk away and that would be the end of it. She hated to be in the middle of the tension that still existed between the Hardy brothers, but she knew one kiss wasn't worth breaking up what fragile bond the brothers had left.

Matt looked up at her surprised. He didn't think that she would actually say yes. He was expecting for her to say too bad and he'd have to deal with the loss of his brother. "Really?" He asked still not fully believing her.

"Really, I won't say a word." She gave a weak smile and hugged him. "I know how much Jeff means to you, and how much you mean to him. I don't want to lie to him but I know that I don't want to break the two of you apart anymore."

"Thank you so much Lee."

"You are welcome."

The tension Matt and Lorelei slowly melted as the day wore on. Lorelei realized that Matt meant what he said, that he was not trying to do anything behind his brothers back. It was harder for Matt to become at ease again knowing that if he got too comfortable they would be back to arguing and feeling uneasy about spending time together. It seemed like any time that he let his guard down thoughts and feelings filled him, causing his head to spin and sending him off into his own fantasy world where Lorelei was his to hold and love. He couldn't get her off his mind bit he couldn't let her creep all the way in either. He was so lost with what to do that it took him a while before he realized that they were hanging out the way they used to so many years ago. It was extremely comforting to the both of them knowing that they were able to get back the friendship that had carried them through many hard times.

All easiness left Lorelei's body as she saw Jeff step out of the terminal. He looked as happy as she had ever seen him. And guilt washed over her thinking how she hadn't just slapped Matt and walked away without talking to him and without giving him a chance to explain.

"I missed you so much." Jeff said picking her up into a massive bear hug. "I really have to start taking more time off."

"That would sound great," Lorelei says trying to bring herself out of her thoughts and control her guilt.

"So where's my brother?" Jeff asked looking around and seeing that Matt was missing.

"He stayed at the hotel he wanted to get as much rest in as possible. Plus he thought it would be nice to give us a couple of hours alone."

"That sounds good," he said smiling devilishly.

"What is on that mind of yours Mr. Hardy?" She asks seeing the look in his eye.

"Only that I haven't told you how gorgeous you are or kissed you

hello properly yet." He smiled once more before leaning down and bringing her closer for a kiss. He let the weeks of being separated from her wash away as he tasted her lips and felt her soft skin with his hands. Forgetting about the aches and pains that he felt throughout his body, forgetting that they were in a crowded airport, Jeff tightened his grip around Lorelei's waist and deepened the kiss. He didn't know how to stop, giving into every raw emotion of his body.

"Jeff," Lorelei whispered against his lips when she realized she wasn't able to break away. "People are starting to stare."

"Then let them," he whispered continuing kissing her.

"Jeff, in the airport is not where we should be doing this."

He took a deep breath in and pulled away slowly still breathing heavily from their kiss. "You're right," he says looking at the fact that she's flushed and blushing. "I don't think I've seen you that shade of red before."

Lorelei smiled and blushed a bit more taking his head and walking towards her car.

"So where do you want to go first? To your hotel or to my place? I want you to see my place." She smiled at him talking non-stop.

"Let me check into the hotel first then we can see your place."

"Good, because I really want you to see my place and I want you to meet my roommate. And we have dinner plans with Matt tonight, but tomorrow night I reserved especially for us. I thought that it would be appropriate for your last night here to have dinner together."

"Lori," Jeff said amused. "You are talking at hyper speed and soon enough I won't be able to understand a word you are saying."

"Oops, I didn't realize that I was doing that. You know me and what happens when I get over excited."

Jeff laughed and shook his head. It would be a while before she stopped talking at high speeds jumping from one topic to the next. He wrapped his arm around her loving the fact that she was actually there with him and sharing her life with him.

Jeff had thrown his bag on the hotel bed and turned to Lorelei. "We're alone now," he said smiling.

"Yes we are, and what is that supposed to mean to me?"

"Everything," he said grabbing her sitting on the bed and placing her between his legs. "We won't have to worry about anyone seeing what we're doing."

"And?" she asked still not wanting to give in to him.

"So now I can do as I please with you," he said.

"Only if I let you," she reminded him smiling.

"True, true at least let me have a few more kisses." He said pulling Lorelei closer to him.

Whether he had two minutes or two days with her he didn't care. Time seemed infinite as long as she stayed in his arms. Nothing would change, everything would stay still.

"Jeff we have to go meet Matt," Lorelei said softly into his chest.

"Just a little bit longer," Jeff said playing with the strands of her hair.

"We'll lose our reservations and I worked hard to get this set up."

It was difficult pulling Jeff out of the bed and out of his bubble. But he could hear in Lorelei's tone that she wanted to surprise him with something special and he wanted to see his brother. But what he couldn't overlook was Lorelei's change of attitude once they had met up with Matt. She was nervous and fidgety and didn't seem at all like herself.

"Hey is something wrong?" He finally asked her while they were in the car.

"No not at all why would you ask?"

Jeff lowered his voice, "because ever since we met up with Matt you've been different."

She forced a smile on her face and turned to him. "Everything is fine don't you worry about it."


	15. Twist of Fate ch 15

Jeff tried to enjoy the night and forget the tension that he was picking up between Lorelei and Matt. Lorelei had set up a wonderful night just for him and his brother. They were at one of the nicest and hottest spots in Pittsburgh. Jeff knew she went through trouble to set it up so quickly.

"Hey Matt," Jeff watched his brother jump a bit. "Dude why so jumpy?"

"I'm not, I was just a little startled that's all."

"You've been like that all night, what's going on?"

"Nothing is going on."

Jeff took the opportunity while Lorelei was in the restroom to voice his one true concern. "Is it because of me and Lorelei? Are you uncomfortable?"

"No," Matt answered honestly. He was feeling so guilty about the kiss that he hadn't had time to notice how close Lorelei and Jeff were all night long. "The two of you deserve to have a good time together."

"But I want the three of us to have a good time together."

"Jeff I'm having a great time. It's better than going home and being alone."

"What did I miss while I was gone?" Lorelei asked rejoining the table.

"I was just asking Matt about the day that the two of you had yesterday."

"It was great right Matt?" Lorelei answered trying to hide the strain she was feeling.

"Yes it was. It was a day to remember." A smiled crossed his face as he began to recall the feelings of her lips and remembering how good her lips tasted.

"See," she turned to Jeff and smiled. "And now it can only get better now that you're here for the next couple of days."

"That's great," Jeff said knowing that there was definitely something unspoken going on between Lorelei and Matt.

"Would you like me to drive you guys back to the hotel now?" Lorelei asked as they made their way to her car.

"I thought that we were going to see your place?" Jeff asked.

"Oh right, well only if you both want to."

"We would love nothing more," Matt answered trying to find any way to spend a few more moments with her. He didn't want to take her from Jeff. He wasn't even thinking about her and Jeff. He had watched them together all night long. Jeff had not been so happy in a very long time. And Lorelei had never been so smiley or attached to anyone. It didn't cause Matt as much pain as he thought that it would. The fact that they were both so happy began to make him feel a little better about everything. Yet he still found himself drifting off to his own fantasy world with Lorelei in it. There she was as his wife, as his lover. Her smiling was contagious, her laughter infectious, and her beauty was stunning. If he could only have more moments filled with her smiles and her laughter he would never be unhappy.

"Well then we're off to see the wizard of oz. Buckle up it'll be a bumpy ride," she said smiling and winking at both of them.

The excitement of having both Matt and Jeff visiting Lorelei and spending time with her once more in her home no less had caused her to forget any tension or guilt that she was experiencing. Seeing both Matt and Jeff together sharing in her every day life was something that she had begun to believe wouldn't actually happen.

"Now I have to warn you my roommate is a huge wrestling fan. I mean like obsessive huge. And as far as tag teams go there is no team better than the Hardy boys."

"Well we're just that good," Jeff said with a cocky smile.

"That isn't the point Jeff. I haven't told her that I know you."

"What?" they both said at the same time.

"She'd be all over me asking when I was going to bring you by, to get backstage at shows and god knows what else. I kept it quiet."

"I don't know whether we should be insulted or flattered," Matt said laughing. "Well Jeff, you've got an honest girl there, she wouldn't sell you out for anything."

Hearing Matt call her an honest girl sent a pain through Lorelei's chest. She would have told Jeff straight out what happened between her and Matt, but she had promised Matt she wouldn't. Why was she always going out of her way to please Matt? Not just Matt, she reminded herself. She had spent a fortune getting airplane tickets just to prove her love to Jeff.

"We both know that she's nothing but the best." Jeff said hugging her and kissing the top of head.

"Let's take the focus off of me for a moment here and listen to what I am about to say. I love my roommate to death, and we're as close as friends can be, but she's crazy. When she sees you there will be screaming and jumping up and down and god knows what else."

"Nothing that we haven't seen before," Jeff said in his usual calm manner. "We'll handle it just fine. Besides if I'm going to be in your life your friends will have to know exactly who I am eventually."

Lorelei's heart flipped inside of her thinking of Jeff being a permanent part of her life. Although they were always friends they weren't always around each other. Now he was putting himself in her life. She smiled at the thought of having him with her always. "Alright, alright but when she screams your ears bloody don't say I didn't warn you."

"Bring it on," Matt said with a smile.

Meeting fans was something that both Hardy's absolutely loved to do. There was nothing better than knowing that your work was having an impact on people. And with both Matt and Jeff being so modest about their abilities in the ring it was always a bit shocking to see how many fans they had or the type of affect that they had on people.

"Well it's not as fancy as any of the houses that you big wrestling superstars have but it's my home and I love it." Lorelei said as she opened the door. The living room light was on so she knew that her roommate had to be home. "Hey Raya," she called putting her purse and keys down. "Make yourselves comfortable, I'm just going to find my roommate."

Matt and Jeff nodded sitting down on the couch looking around. It was a small house simply decorated. There were pictures of Lorelei with her friends all around.

"Ever felt like we missed out on a big chunk of her life?" Jeff asked seeing all the pictures around with Lorelei and people he had never seen.

"Not until recently," Matt said. "Now I feel like we missed out on a lot of things that made her who she is today."

"I get that same feeling," Jeff said looking at a picture of Lorelei with a guy he'd never met. She was all smiles sitting on his lap. "I didn't even know that she dated."

His thought was interrupted by a loud scream.

"I guess she told her roommate," Matt said with a bit of a laugh.

Before Jeff could respond an over excited person ran into the living room.

"Oh my god it's true! I mean she told me that she started dating her old friend Jeff, I just never thought that it was you."

"Matt, Jeff, meet Raya my crazy roommate." Lorelei said walking in after her roommate. "Like I said before she's a huge wrestling fan and- "

"And I've been a huge fan since the two of you debuted." Raya said finishing her sentence. "Sorry I know that I came out here like a total raving lunatic but it's not every day that I find two amazing wrestling superstars in my living room."

"Our living room Raya and now that you've screamed and rambled introduce yourself like a normal person." Lorelei said laughing at how excited her friend was.

"Sorry you're right Lor," she took in a deep breath and held out her hand. "It's more than nice to meet you, it's a huge thrill. I am Raya Lorelei's quirky yet extremely loveable roommate. Still a little miffed that she never told me she was such good friends with the two of you."

Both Matt and Jeff shook her hand with a smile. But Matt was doing it more mechanically than anything else. He had been thrown into a daze once she stepped into the room and smiled at him. There was something that he saw in her, something that made him forget that he had been uncomfortable with Lorelei, something that made him forget that he was still deeply in love with Lorelei. But what exactly was it? They looked nothing alike at all. Lorelei was light skinned and shorter than Raya who had dark features from head to toe. When she smiled at him though, that's when he saw it. Their spirits were the same, no wonder the two were roommates.

"Looks like Matt has gone off into another world yet again," Lorelei said after seeing that her friends question was going unanswered.

"He's been doing that quiet a bit tonight," Jeff said while shaking Matt. "The lady asked you a question Matt and you're just sitting there like you didn't hear a thing."

What they didn't realize was that Matt had in fact heard nothing of the conversation. He had been trying to figure out what about this girl began to captivate him.

"I'm so sorry Raya, I didn't mean to ignore your question I was just- " He paused not sure what to say. Telling her that he was trying to figure out why she made him forget Lorelei was not the best approach. "thinking," he simply said.

"It's not a problem at all," she smiled again and Matt felt butterflies in his stomach. How can two people be so opposite and give him the same feelings? But there it was again, something in her smile that made him lost in his own world.

"So where is it that you're from?"

And with that Lorelei and Jeff made their way from the living room into her bedroom leaving Matt alone with Raya.

"Do you think he really is starting to move on?" Jeff asked sitting on her bed.

"I think so, but I hope he's doing it very slowly."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I just don't want him to hurt anyone by rushing into something that he wasn't ready for," she said sitting next to him.

"He wouldn't do that," Jeff said defensively. "I think it's great."

"So do I," she said smiling hiding the fact that she was bothered. Why was it that yesterday Matt was kissing her and telling her that he's madly in love with her and now today he's lost in a world of Raya. Her roommate was gorgeous and could captivate men in an instant. Raya was ong legged, dark skinned and had bright blue eyes. She was a great mixture of her Spanish mother and Caucasian father. But she knew that Raya was sensitive and couldn't bear the thought of having Matt use her as a rebound was crushing for Lorelei.

"Let's not talk about Matt anymore; we're in your bedroom on your bed I most definitely do not want to sit around and talk about my brother."

"So what is it exactly that you would like to do?"

"Hold you," Jeff said honestly. He was a man of course and had his desires and needs, but what he needed now was to hold Lorelei. He wanted to soak up all the time he had with her and feel her body pressed right next to his. "It's been so long since I've been able to hold you, that's all I really want."

"Jeff Hardy, this is why I love you, you're just too sweet." She leaned over and gave him a light kiss on the lips and kissed his neck.

"I may be sweet, but I'm still a man and you kissing me like that will bring out that manly side."

Lorelei gave a light laugh and continued kissing his neck. "I've never actually seen that side of you before."

"And I've never seen the seductive side of you before. Your voice and your laugh-"

"What about them?"

"Incredibly sexy and I must warn you Lori you're about to wake up a sleeping giant."

Lorelei laughed and squealed as Jeff flipped her onto her back and pinned her hands above her head.

"What was that?" Matt asked when he heard sounds coming from the hallway.

"That's probably Lor and Jeff in her bedroom." Raya was enjoying her time with Matt. She knew his ring personality but from what Lorelei had told her about him outside of the ring Raya knew he was a good person to know. "She hasn't had a real boyfriend in a while. Not since that whole thing with her last boyfriend."

"What thing?"

"You don't know? I'm not surprised she didn't tell anyone about it."

"I don't understand. What happened?"

"She caught him with another girl. He started telling her he was confused about what she meant to him and if they really belonged together. He really messed with her head."

"No wonder she got so upset about that kiss," Matt mumbled before he had time to realize what was coming out of his mouth.

"What kiss?" Raya asked curiously.

"What?"

"You said something about a kiss, what kiss?"

Matt knew that he had slipped up big time. They were supposed to be forgetting about it instead here he was about to relate the whole story to her best friend.

"Matt I know that there are feelings there, between the two of you. What kiss?"

Matt sighed; he could sit there and deny it but why? He was in love with Lorelei and if he ever expected to move on he needed to face his feelings. So he sat next to Raya and studied her eyes filled with trust and good intentions. What was it about her that made Matt feel so safe after a few minutes of knowing her?

"I don't know what it is about you that makes me trust you but I do," Matt said before telling her the story of what happened.

"Hey Lorelei," Raya grabbed Lorelei in front of her bedroom door the next morning.

"Morning Raya."

"Where's Jeff?" Raya asked whispering.

"Still asleep in the room, why are you asking? And why are we whispering?" Lorelei asked confused by her roommate's behavior.

"I have to ask you something. Why didn't you tell me you kissed Matt?"

"What? Where did you hear that?"

"Matt told me last night after you ran off with Jeff."

"I didn't kiss him; he kissed me out of nowhere. And I didn't tell you because I promised him that I wouldn't mention it to anyone."

"Well he told me."

"Where is he?"

"Asleep on the couch. Don't be angry with him, he really needed someone to talk to. He's a great guy."

"Come with me, we need to talk where they can't hear us," Lorelei said walking to Raya's room and turning on some music.

Jeff opened the door hurt and shocked at what he heard. He could not understand how just moments before he was beyond happy to wake up next to Lorelei after an amazing night together and now he was about to crumble. His world was falling down around him and without a word to anyone he grabbed his things and walked out of the house intending to walk out of their lives forever.


	16. Twist of Fate ch 16

Matt heard the door close, opening his eyes and trying to remember where he was. He hadn't made it back to his hotel room. He had talked to Raya till the early morning hours telling her how he felt about Lorelei. He sat there telling Raya that she somehow had made Matt forget all the turmoil inside of himself. He got up and walked around trying to find out where everyone was. He knocked on a door where he heard whispers and music coming from.

"Hey, anyone in there?" he asked smiling a bit. From what he could tell there was some serious girl talk going on.

Lorelei answered the door smiling and laughing. Matt felt the butterflies in his stomach as his breath got caught in his throat. Just when he thought he was making progress he was caught off guard with her beauty and vivacity.

"What exactly would you like Matt?" She asked trying to seem serious but not able to pull it convincingly.

"I would just like to know where everyone is. I fell asleep on that couch and I wake up and there is no one around."

"What do you mean? Where's Jeff?"

"I don't know I didn't see him."

"I thought I heard my bedroom door open," Lorelei looked back at Raya who shrugged her shoulders.

"Well he certainly isn't out here," Matt said to her not sure what was going on.

"Maybe he's still sleeping." Lorelei said walking out and going over to her bedroom.

"Who left before?" Matt asked when both Lorelei and Raya had walked out of the bedroom.

"What do you mean left?" Raya asked even more confused seeing that Lorelei's room was empty.

"I heard the front door close, that's what woke me up."

"Jeff's stuff is gone," Lorelei said walking around. "Why would he do that?"

"Do you think that he heard us before?" Raya asked feeling extremely guilty.

"Oh God, if he did he's out there planning on disappearing."

"Heard what exactly?" Matt asked.

"I asked Lor about that kiss you were telling me about last night," Raya said watching Matt's face fall.

"Oh man you didn't. If Jeff heard that there's no way he'll let me explain." Matt ran his fingers frantically through his hair not knowing what to do. "Do I go after him? I should go after him and try to talk to him."

"No Matt you can't. If he sees you now he'll just hit you and walk away. I'll go find him," Lorelei said grabbing her purse and keys.

"He's my brother Lee."

"I know that Matt but you know what he's like. You know he won't talk to you. I can get him to talk to me."

Matt nodded and Lorelei ran out the door. The problem was she didn't know where he would go. He was in a strange city angry and alone. There was nothing good about this scenario.

"God I feel like I'm in a movie," she muttered to herself as she got in the car. "Only my life plays out like a movie." She started up her car and called Jeff's cell phone. "Come on Jeff answer it'll make finding you a bit easier." When he didn't answer she threw her car in reverse backing out of her driveway. "Jeff it's me, we have to talk. I know you're upset I was and am too. Let me know where you are so we can talk."

She threw her phone on the seat and started heading towards the one place she could think that he would go. If he had overheard what she said then he'd be heading towards the hotel to get his stuff and leave town. She drove towards the hotel hoping and praying that along the way she would spot him on the side of the road. It might have been possible to talk Jeff into coming back home with her so that they could talk everything out. She knew though that the longer it took to find Jeff the harder that simple goal would become to accomplish. Jeff was never one to let out his deepest and truest feelings. He would keep his feelings locked inside until they ate him alive. The only time that she would be able to get anything out of him would be if he were to crack straight down the middle and have everything pour out of him involuntarily.

Lorelei yelled at herself as she drove around slowly. She wanted to rush straight to the hotel but knew it would be better to look around first. She could not believe that she was about to lose the best person in her life. She knew that she should have been honest with Jeff about the kiss with Matt, but how could she be? She was trying to keep a relationship in tact that should never have been compromised in the first place. It was easier for her to walk away from both Matt and Jeff, they would have been able to get back the relationship before Lorelei had interfered. That was her original plan, turning her back on the both of them. She had been talked out of it by Matt and then by Jeff. They had reassured her that everything would be ok between the two of them. She cursed herself for believing them and for putting her romantic feelings for Jeff before the relationship between the two brothers. She had put her romantic feelings aside more than once for them, there was no reason for her to believe them now.

Her lecture to herself was stopped as she saw Jeff walking slowly on the side of the road. He hadn't walked far. It seemed like he wasn't even trying to get away. He looked so dejected and broken that Lorelei nearly burst into tears just seeing him walking. His head was hung low and there was no bounce in his step anymore.

Lorelei pulled over the car and nearly jumped out before properly stopping or parking.

"Jeff, don't leave," she yelled running up to him and grabbing his arm. "You can't just walk out like this."

Jeff didn't turn around to look at her, he didn't know if he could handle it. He wasn't even sure if he could talk. His voice seemed to fail on him as he tried to say something to her.

"Jeff please come back to my house and talk to me. Try and talk to Matt. You can't just jump to conclusions and walk away without telling anyone anything." Lorelei waited for a response until the silence was about to crush her. "Say something Jeff; please I need you to say something."

There was nothing that Jeff could say to her. The feelings of insecurity and inadequacy had been building inside of him for so long. They were about to boil over; and as angry as Jeff was he didn't want Lorelei to be the one to bare the brunt of it. He had always been Matt's younger brother or the baby boy. He was never just Jeff Hardy. He had never felt good enough to achieve anything on his own. His brother was right there next to him with every great accomplishment that he achieved. The one moment in his life where he was beginning to feel that he had done something for him and was beginning to achieve greatness he had a weight crush him like he had never felt before.

"Alright you don't want to talk I understand. Please just get in the car and we'll go back to my place. You can sit there in silence all day and not say a word until your ready. But come back with me so I can at least know that you're safe." Lorelei wouldn't let go of his arm. She knew that he was hurt and angry. Jeff was a stubborn man and there was nothing that she could say that would break his silence. For now Lorelei didn't even need to talk to him, she just needed to feel his presence. She needed to know that he was still there with her whether or not he talked to her.

"Please Jeff just come with me to the car."

Jeff had no desire to go to the car or back to the house. Lorelei had not done anything very wrong, he knew that. Jeff knew deep inside that Lorelei was never one to cheat. She was extremely loyal and would go to the ends of the earth to make the ones she loved happy. But here he was once more playing second string to his brother. Jeff was not sure if Lorelei was considering being loyal to him or to Matt. He loved Lorelei so much that being apart had begun to physically hurt him. Jeff was so scared of admitting it, but he was deeply in love with Lorelei more than she realized. He had dreamt about her every night that they were apart and envisioned her as his wife. He had seen kids that had her wonderful smile and bright dancing eyes. Every jewelry store that he passed by he looked at rings that he knew she would love. There wasn't a moment in the day that he didn't think about her. He had planned at least five different evenings, all ending with him proposing to her. He would have proposed the night that she stood in the rain for hours for him. He had never seen her look so beautiful and had never felt so in love. He would have dropped down to one knee and told her everything that was burning inside of him if he knew it would be received the right way.

Jeff was naturally an introverted person and had a hard time speaking all that he felt. But when it came to Lorelei Jeff would tell her anything that she wanted to know. They had known each other since they were little and he had always felt comfortable enough to tell her all that he felt. As he got older he realized that there was something different about how he was with Lorelei. One look into her deep brown eyes and he never felt safer.

How could he turn and look into those eyes again? Would she spend the rest of their relationship covering for Matt and keeping his secrets no matter how damaging they would be to Jeff? Would she always be harboring such intense feelings for Matt that nothing else around mattered? He would do anything for Lorelei; he would do anything to stay with her. Anything except be second in her eyes. If he were going to be in a relationship with her he needed all of her. He needed to have Lorelei in the purest form. There would be no settling for half of a relationship, or part of her heart.

Jeff was still faced with the problem of turning to look at Lorelei. He knew if he did he would fall under that same familiar spell she put him in. He would look at her eyes and see the rest of his life play out in them. He would see years of love and happiness. He would feel the years of pain that he had gone through wash away with the right glance from her. There was nothing more he would have loved than to turn around and forget it all, but he knew that he couldn't. He needed to feel the way that he was now. He needed to remember that Lorelei had put Matt before him once again.

Lorelei stood there with her hand firmly wrapped around his arm waiting for Jeff to either speak or move. But he didn't. Jeff stood in the same spot; his head hung low not saying anything to Lorelei. She almost would have preferred if Jeff had gone off screaming at her when she had first approached him. She knew that she deserved a good lashing out for what had happened. And it would have been easier to handle. The silence was harder to deal with than anything else. Watching Jeff stand there unable to even look at her cut her so deep she felt as if her soul had started to bleed. Over the last few weeks Jeff had become her everything. She lived for his phone calls, e-mails, and silly pictures that he would send her all the time. Looking into his green eyes and seeing every emotion play out was becoming her life line. Things were not supposed to be this way. She was supposed to be in Jeff's arms feeling his warmth telling him everything that she hadn't been able to in their short conversations. Jeff looked beyond hurt, she didn't know exactly what he was feeling but she knew that it was worse than anything he'd felt before.

Lorelei knew that she had hurt him and probably ruined their relationship for good. The thought of not having Jeff in her life anymore sent tears flowing down her face freely. She had been fighting the tears since she saw him walking on the side of the road. But now, in the silence of everything, she could not hold her tears back any longer.

"Jeff I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you, I know that what happened I can't take back. I'll leave you alone I promise. You don't have to say a word, I know that this won't work. You can't look at me, can't talk to me. I messed up I know but I love you so much Jeff." The words were so hard to say that Lorelei's voice failed her and became no more than a whisper. "I love you more than you know. I'll just go now and leave you alone. I'm sorry, I'll always be sorry for what happened. I hope one day you'll forgive me."

Lorelei let go of his arm and walked back to her car. She was hoping that Jeff would call to her or run to the car. This would be the part of the movie where there is a romantic song playing and the man runs up to the woman refusing to let her leave until they are in each others arms passionately kissing and declaring their love for each other. Lorelei wanted nothing more than to have the scene played out that way. Instead as she started her car she noticed that Jeff hadn't moved. He still hadn't turned to look at her or even speak to her. She wondered if he even knew that she was crying. The tears poured down harder as she started up her car and began to drive away.

Leaving Jeff on the side of the road may have seemed rude or wrong but Lorelei knew that she would never get Jeff in the car. If he wasn't willing to move on his own then he wasn't going to move at all. How was she going to tell Matt that everything went wrong and Jeff wasn't going to be speaking to either of them for a long time? She could just see Matt sitting there worried and anxious, hoping that when she got back he would be able to mend things with his brother. She was failing everyone miserably. Her mother was right; she should have left both Matt and Jeff alone. How did she single handedly bring down an amazing tag team and an amazing relationship? The tears wouldn't stop as she saw her life lonely and dull without the two men that helped her through everything. Even when they didn't know it, their laughs and jokes helped her through plenty of hard times. Now she knew that both of them wouldn't be part of that anymore. She had messed things up for all three of them and it hurt more than she had ever imagined.

Her phone began to ring and she saw that it was Matt. There was no avoiding everything that she didn't want to do. She picked up the phone and tried to control her emotions enough to talk to Matt without sounding totally hysterical.

"Lee did you find Jeff? I'm starting to worry," Matt said the moment he realized she had picked up.

Lorelei was emotional and barely concentrating on driving. She pulled over to the side of the road to talk to Matt. Trying to talk on her phone while already crying and driving seemed like a bad idea to her. "I found him Matt," she said parking her car. "He wouldn't talk to me, he wouldn't look at me."

"Is he with you?" Matt knew the answer was no, he was just trying to find any way to hold on to the bit of optimism that he needed to believe in. "Did you at least get him to drive back with you?"

"I tried, I really tried. I pleaded with him, but he wouldn't budge. He didn't say anything to me, didn't look at me. Matt I think he hates me."

"Lee Jeff doesn't hate you, he just needs a bit of time that's all."

"No Matt he doesn't need time. He just wanted me to get away from him. He was so upset that he couldn't say a single word to me. He's never been like that with me, he's always talked to me no matter what."

"I know that Lee, and he'll talk to you again. He can't live his life without you any more than I can."

"Matt, why did you do it? Why did you have to go and kiss me?" Lorelei sighed and began to lose control of her emotions once more. "We shouldn't have kissed. We shouldn't have even been alone together."

"Come on back Lee and we'll talk everything through and figure out how to fix it. Raya is getting very worried about you. And talking to you I'm worrying too. I know you are upset, come back and calm down. You shouldn't alone as upset as you are."

"Neither should Jeff! He's more upset than I am and I left him alone. Oh god I left him alone. What's wrong with me? Why would I leave him alone?"

Matt was extremely confused by Lorelei's sudden rambling. She left Jeff alone? What did she mean by that? What else was she supposed to do? If Jeff didn't want to talk to you, you weren't going to get anything out of him. He was going to question this and try to figure out what she meant when he heard a dial tone.

Lorelei hung up on Matt, not even bothering to say anything else. She knew what she had to do if she were going to get Jeff to listen to her and talk to her again. She made a speedy u-turn and sped towards where she left Jeff. She was going to make him listen to her. She had done it once before there was no reason why she couldn't get him to do it again. She went back to where she had left Jeff, seeing that he had sat down on the curb and buried his face in his hands.

Without bothering to say a word to Jeff this time, Lorelei walked up to him grabbing his face with her own hands and kissing him with as much emotion and passion she could muster. Jeff was reluctant at first trying to keep himself from melting into her like he loved to do. The salty taste of her tears with the taste of her lips was too much for him to resist. He could tell that she had been crying, and that she was just as hurt as he was. He could feel how much she truly loved him and the thought of her crying because he was too proud and too stubborn to talk to her made him shed tears of his own. He knew she didn't deserve to be ignored and made to feel like a bad person. She was the best person that he knew, and she always put blame on herself when there was no reason for it. He hadn't expected for her to come back, let alone for him to be kissing her tasting her once more. Why had he let her walk away crying like that? All that he felt, and all that she felt brought tears to Jeff's eyes. He was more than happy that she was back, and yet he couldn't stop himself from crying.  
"Jeff," she said breaking the kiss. She gently forced his head up so that they made eye contact. "I love you and you are going to listen to me whether you like it or not."


	17. Twist of Fate ch 17

"What happened between Matt and I that day, it was, it was a big mistake. Matt knew it the moment that it happened and so did I. I wanted so badly to run away and tell you what happened, and for the sake of the argument I know that I should have. But there is a very good reason why I didn't."

"I can't possibly see what that would be."

"You, Jeff, the reason I didn't tell you was because of you." The look of confusion on Jeff's was almost instantaneous. "If I told you there was no doubt that this is what would have happened. You love your brother more than anyone around. And you also need him. I know that you hate to admit that Jeff. I don't mean to say that you can't do things on your own, because we both know that you can. All I am saying is that you need your brother to lean on when things get to be too rough on you. We all need someone, and Matt is that someone for you."

"I have you now," Jeff said quietly.

"You will always have me, but it isn't the same as having Matt around." Lorelei sighed; she knew that he was going to find any reason to say he didn't need Matt. "You need your brother, and I didn't want to say anything that would take him away from you."

"But Lorelei he kissed you. After everything that he said to me, all that we talked about he still kissed you."

"Not that I want to be playing devil's advocate, but someone needs to explain to you what Matt was going through. And don't look at me like that I know you don't want to hear but you need to." Her voice was light, but stern. She was determined to make him come around and see her point. She would not leave his side or move from the sidewalk until he was by her side. "Matt had shoved everything that he was feeling to the very back of him. He just pushed it under the rug and left it there to fester. He found himself in a momentary daze where reality and day dream mixed together. As soon as he realized what happened he apologized profusely. No one is beating him up more than himself. He feels horrible about it and if he could take it back he would."

"But why are you still around him? Why are you still defending him?"

"Because he needs someone to defend him," Lorelei stated airily not putting much weight into the statement. "He needs you more than you need him right now. I promised him my silence so that the two of you could keep your relationship in tact."

"Lori I don't want a relationship with him if this is what it's going to be like. You can't be covering up for him every time something goes wrong."

"Jeffery Nero Hardy, don't you dare go saying something like that. He made one mistake that's all and he feels awful about it. He is your family no matter what happens. You love him and you need him. You need your family behind you if you're going to survive this life. I believe this so strongly that I am going to step aside and leave you two alone."

"No," Jeff yelled so quickly that it startled both of them. He was surprised that his reaction was so strong to her suggestion. He had never before been addicted to a person, but he was certainly addicted to Lorelei. The simple thought of living without Lorelei, made Jeff, beyond miserable. He imagined himself fading into the background of existence, no longer having the will to truly live out his life. "You can't do that Lori, you can't leave me."

"Well I can't see the two of you not talking either. I will not see you and Matt break apart over a stupid little misunderstanding."

"It isn't a little misunderstanding Lorelei!" Jeff yelled. He had barely said anything to Lorelei up to this point, but now his anger was boiling over and he was unleashing all he felt. "You will always make things out to be a lot less serious than they are if it involves Matt. He's always taken what he wants, even if they are mine! The entire time growing up I wasn't allowed to like you because Matt liked you. I didn't even exist to you our entire childhood!"

"Jeff that isn't- "

"Yes Lori it is, it is true. You were so wrapped up in Matt that there was no one else around to you. You never noticed the other boys that would stare at you when you walked down the hallways, or the way everyone knew you could light up a room with that smile and that laugh." Jeff sighed, a deep soul wrenching sigh. He was hurt and in pain down to the very core of him. He was not sure if he would be able to honestly get over it.

"I'm not exaggerating or being nice," he said to her before she could respond. He knew that she was never really able to accept compliments. "You have always been my number one choice. Even when you were a ten year old tom boy covered in dirt and bandages. I knew that one day I would want you to be mine. I've tried settling for others, but I don't want to settle. I want the one person that has captivated me for years."

"Then take me Jeff," Lorelei was shaking, and in tears once more. All that Jeff had said took her by surprise. She had never realized that she had put so much energy into getting Matt to notice her that she disregarded everyone else. "Take my hand and come back home with me, and be with me. You can have what you want, you can have me Jeff."

Jeff took her hand in his, but made no move to stand up. He sat on the sidewalk looking at Lorelei's hand, loving the feel of her touch, and her soft skin.

"I can't go with you Lori."

"Why not?" Lorelei asked not bothering to hide her exasperated tone. She was not sure exactly what Jeff wanted. She was giving him everything that she could, everything that she was, and it still seemed to not be enough. "What is it Jeff? What more do I have to do? What do I have to say? I've been giving you everything Jeff, everything that I am. What do you want?"

"To be your first choice," he said so simply that Lorelei was stunned by his statement. "You have always, and will always, be my very first choice." Jeff kissed her hand lightly and could not help smirk when he saw the effect it had on Lorelei. "Lorelei," his voice was soft, and shaky. He seemed close to tears once more. "Why am I not your first choice? Why am I not enough?"

His words cut through Lorelei. Now she understood why he would not leave with her. She felt her heart drop and guilt crash all around her. Jeff had always known of her affections for Matt, and he wanted to have that part of her. He wanted the one part that she had told him would always be there. She could not give him what he wanted, and what he truly deserved if she didn't give him the piece of her that belonged to Matt. True, she was not talking to Jeff about forgiving Matt because of her feelings for him, but it was the way it seemed. The tears poured down on her face harder now, knowing that her own foolishness might have cost her the one man in her life she could always depend on, and love. She had let go of Matt, and all feelings for him, the night she had flown to Jeff. She laid next to Jeff watching him sleep, knowing that he was the one man she wanted. She had run back home because of the intensity of feelings she felt for him. It was not like her to lie in bed watching a man sleep, feeling like she would give up what her life was now, to love him. She had sworn that she would never go down a path like that. That no matter what she would keep her own identity.

Now, it seemed to her, wanting to be with Jeff, seemed to be a large understatement. She needed him, as much as he needed her.

"There are things that you are never going to tell me," Jeff finally said breaking the silence. "You have lived this whole other life out here that I knew nothing about. All those years talking on the phone and keeping in touch, I never once heard you mention any boyfriends. Everything in that house is a testament to how you keep things from me. Even if I forget Matt for a second, I'm still not what I want to be. I want to be the one and only person in that wonderful heart of yours."

Lorelei had not known what to say to Jeff. All that she was feeling was wrapped up inside of her fighting to come out. She had sat listening to Jeff, trying to find the right words to say to him. And even though she still hadn't found the right words, she was not able to stay quiet any longer. Jeff was twisting everything that she was feeling into something that it wasn't.

"Jeff, you need to shut up now," she said simply looking straight at him. "I know that you are hurting, and you feel bad, but you need to stop talking. Everything that you are feeling, and thinking that I am feeling, it's all backwards."

"How so?" He asked genuinely curious at Lorelei's answer. He wanted to be wrong, and for her to tell him as much. He wanted to know nothing more than she loved him with every part of her, and she was sharing everything with him.

"Granted me not telling you about that kiss was wrong, but I've hidden nothing else from you. If I didn't tell you anything about any boyfriends or anything like that it's because no one was worth mentioning. And the minute that I thought I found someone worth mentioning, I walk in on him screaming along with some other woman in a bedroom that was supposed to be ours. You have been the first man that I've been with since him, and I've never felt safer. Even with you on the road three hundred days a year I know that you'll never hurt me like that. I know you won't look at me and tell me lies about how you still love me while you are wrapped in a bed sheet with another woman in the next room. I know that you won't tell me that you are confused about our lives together and you need more than me to keep you happy."

"Lorelei, I didn't know any of that happened."

"Nobody did Jeff, because I didn't want anyone to. It hurt me a lot, and I cried for days, especially when he kept calling me telling me things like that. But I made a decision a long time ago that I would not let it define me. In order to do that, I had to let all of that go, to the point where it's never even on my mind to tell anyone about. I was not trying to hide anything from you, I hadn't thought about it in over a year. My past is my past and I want a future free from the past with you. I am sorry you feel like you aren't enough for me," she continued on before Jeff could interrupt. "I know that those feelings are all my doing. Let me get one thing straight, and made perfectly clear so you never think these things again; I love you, I want you, and I truly do need you. There is no one else that I think about, that I dream about. It is only you Jeff Hardy, and you are probably more than I deserve. Your brother is nothing more than my best friend, and he never will be anything more. I love Matt, but as my friend, as a brother, as a family member. What you need to understand is that is why I covered for him Jeff. I did it because he was so afraid of losing your trust and friendship, and I knew you would not want to forgive him. A piece of you will die inside if you let go of Matt, and I was trying to keep both of you from getting hurt. You Jeff, you are my friend, my lover, my everything. I ran from it when I got on that plane, after I flew to you, but I'm not running anymore. I am right here Jeff, waiting for you. I'll keep waiting for you, even if it takes a lifetime. There is no one else that can make me happy the way you do, or make me feel as in love. Please Jeff, just come back with me."

"What about Matt?" Jeff asked regaining his composure. He drank in every word that Lorelei had said to him, and it made him feel idiotic. He really had made the entire thing into a bigger situation than it was. He wanted it to be about how Lorelei felt about Matt. He needed to know for sure if she was over him completely. He didn't want it to happen this way, but he was upset and hurt and didn't want to give in to Lorelei only to be crushed by her in the end.

Now he felt as if he had done the completely wrong thing. She had told him everything that he wanted to hear, and now he felt guilty for sending her into tears, and getting her so upset.

"Is he as emotional and upset as you are?" He asked a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Lorelei chuckled and wiped off a few stray tears. "Even more so. He's at my place balling like a baby."'

"Oh Lori, come here," Jeff grabbed her and sat her down right next to him. "I'm sorry for getting you so upset, I didn't mean to. There were just a lot of things that I needed to know. I never meant for things to end up like this," Jeff apologized wiping tears from her face and fixing her hair.

"I know, but it's me who should be saying sorry."

"You already did." He smiled at Lorelei and hugged her before moving in and kissing her.

"Does this mean that you forgive me?" Lorelei asked pulling herself apart from Jeff a few minutes later.

"Lori you are more than forgiven. Believe me when I say that I will never again wonder whether Matt is first in your heart."

Lorelei smiled for the first time since she had found Jeff, and leaned in to kiss him. Jeff happily took her in his arms hungry to taste every inch of her. They still had not been intimate with each other. He had tried last night, and wanted it so badly. He could tell that she wasn't fully comfortable, and as he said before he was happy, and content holding her in his arms. Now though things were different. He knew how much he meant to her, and this knowledge seemed to make his body want Lorelei even more.

Lorelei smiled against his lips when she felt his hands snake under her shirt exploring what was underneath.

"Jeff," she whispered in between kisses.

"I'm sorry," he said out of breath, not wanting to stop and fighting all of his impulses. "I'm going too far again."

"Well, yes and no. We're on the side of the road Jeff."

"I know that," he chuckled softly and resumed what he was doing before the interruption.

"Jeff, someone is going to see us." Lorelei didn't want Jeff to stop. She was enjoying the feeling of Jeff's hands on her, and enjoying the reaction that his touch was causing.

She also wasn't one for displays of public attention. Sitting on the side of the road was not in any of her fantasies. She had envisioned her first time with Jeff many, many times. Little did he know that she had planned the entire evening around the hopes that that very night would be their first night together. She wanted everything to be perfect, and the way that all of it had been planned out, it would be.

She smiled and gently took his hands out from under her shirt and stood up gently tugging on his arms. She wanted him to talk things out with Matt, and she knew that she would have to force him to go back to her place to do just that.

"Where are we going?" Jeff asked standing up next to her. "Some place a bit more private maybe?"

"No, we're going back home, and you are going to talk to Matt until this whole thing is resolved."

"Do I have to?" Jeff asked whining like a little boy.

"Yes Jeffrey you do, I want things to be perfect for tonight, and they won't be until you make up with Matt."

"I'm only going to do it for you," he said getting in the car. "Otherwise I would still be sitting on that curb not talking to anyone."

"I don't care why you do it as long as it gets done."

Jeff stayed silent the short ride back to the house. He needed the silence to get his thoughts and emotions under control. He knew that Lorelei loved him undoubtedly. That still did not make any of what Matt did any better. His brother had betrayed him, whether he truly wanted to or not. The trust that their relationship had been built upon was now crumbling all around. Jeff had never before seen any weaknesses in his brother, but now there were too many to count. So many of them were hurting Jeff, and he did not know how to handle that.

He did not want to lose his brother, or abandon Matt again. He just was not sure that he could honestly trust Matt any more. He could only imagine what his father would say if he knew what was happening between the two of them. His father believed that a good sit down would always solve any problem. And until recently Jeff had always believed the same thing. The problem now was that there was no trust between the two brothers. How could they fix a problem between the both of them when there is no trust, or room to believe one another?

The car pulled into the driveway and Jeff steeled himself against what he knew was going to come. He knew that there would be tension and awkwardness and apologies. He was not sure if he could handle any more emotions.

The minute he walked in the door he was rushed by Matt, who wrapped his arms around his brother thankful that Lorelei had brought him back.

"I was so worried Jeff. I know what you heard, and I'm so sorry about all of it. I've been so sorry for the past two days. It meant nothing I swear it. Just give me a chance to explain and talk to you before you come to any conclusions. I'm so sorry, so, so sorry."

"Matt, I'll be willing to talk to you if you just unwrap me. You are acting like a freaking anaconda." Jeff said hoarsely through the tight squeeze Matt had around his neck.

"Oh," Matt instantly let go looking a bit embarrassed. "Sorry, I just wanted to know how sorry I was, am. How bad I feel."

"Hey Raya, let's give these boys some time alone." Lorelei took her roommates arm and walked towards her bedroom.

"But it was just getting interesting," Raya said nosily trying to stick around and hear the conversation.

"Trust me you can get plenty of gossip from me while you help me pick out the perfect outfit for tonight."


	18. Twist of Fate ch 18

"So what's the perfect outfit for?" Raya asked watching her roommate throw most of the contents in her closet onto the floor.

"I need it to be perfect, tonight is the night."

"What do you mean tonight is the night?" Raya asked. She looked at Lorelei with a simple devilish smirk on her face. "Oh, you mean that you two haven't- "

"It just never seemed….. Right," Lorelei finished after a long pause. "He's great, I couldn't ask for anyone better. It was just me, I always stopped it for some reason."

"Well this will certainly do the trick," Raya said throwing a dark blue open backed dress at her.

"Oh no way Raya. The back is too low the front is too revealing."

"And if you want to get a man in bed you'll put it on," Raya said interrupting Lorelei.

Lorelei was more attractive than she had ever given herself credit for. Raya knew that she had a problem with self esteem that was very well hidden. Smiling softly at Lorelei, Raya put her hands on Lorelei's shoulders and laughed.

"You'll stop him dead in his tracks."

"Thanks. Can you do me one small favor?"

"Tell me and it's as good as done."

"I want someone to hang out with Matt tonight. It's been a hard day for everyone and I don't really want him to be alone. I made a whole plan to be with Jeff tonight and completely forgot about Matt."

"Would you like me to entertain him for tonight?" Raya asked smiling. She was trying to hide her excitement and it didn't seem to be working.

The night that Raya had spent with Matt gave her a glimpse of the man behind the ring persona. And he was turning out to be genuinely someone Raya wanted to take time to get to know. Not for free show tickets, or bragging rights. If anything she understood why Lorelei had never told anyone how close she was with Matt and Jeff. She completely respected her friend's decision and knew how her roommate had to be feeling.

"Don't worry Lorelei I'll take good care of him."

"Raya he's pretty vulnerable right now, and I don't- "

"Lor I'll take him back to his hotel and we'll have some dinner and order a couple of movies. Believe me when I tell you that I am not looking at him as some wrestling superstar. I know who he is, and I know what he needs."

"I hope so Raya. He means a lot to me, I don't want to see him hurt."

A knock on the bedroom door brought the conversation to an end as Lorelei yelled "come in".

"Hey," Matt opened the door enough to peek his head inside not stepping in. "Lee, do you think we can talk for a minute?"

"Uh yeah sure. I'll grab my sneakers we'll go for a walk."

"That would be great," Matt gave her a smile. "I'll be waiting by the door."

"Ok I know that you are hopelessly in love with Jeff and everything, but that Matthew is one good looking man," Raya said once Matt closed the door.

"I know he is Raya," Lorelei laughed and sat on the bed next to her roommate. "He's just not the one for me. But," she lowered her voice as if she were hatching an evil scheme. "I give you full permission to make him the one for you." Lorelei patted her friends leg and laughed as Raya's eyes widened. "So good to see that you are speechless. I like the quiet. I'll be back soon. Don't go through too many of my things."

The atmosphere seemed to thicken as Lorelei stepped out of her room and into the hallway. Everything seemed to be too quiet and still.

"Don't worry he asked me first," Jeff's voice seemed to come out of nowhere making Lorelei jump a bit. "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you."

Lorelei turned around to face Jeff, who was standing by the bathroom. "What are you doing standing there?"

"Waiting for you to come out," he smiled at her and pulled her into a hug.

"I thought that you two would need more time."

"We do," he said honestly. "But one day isn't going to do it. The two of us need a lot of time and space to fix things."

"Yet you trust me alone with him?"

"Lori I trust you completely, and to fix anything with Matt I need to give him space to prove me wrong. But I'm riding more on the fact that you are not going to hurt me than anything else."

"You know that I wouldn't, not for anything in the world. When I get back I'll take you back to the hotel so you can get cleaned up for tonight."

"Where are we going?"

"No where at all. We're staying here. I've just planned something a little bit special."

Jeff smiled and kissed her. "I think I'll be gone before you get back. I've got some things I have to take care of first, ya know business things," he said to clear up her look of confusion. "Just tell me when to be back by and I'm all yours."

"Seven," Lorelei said pulling away from him. "Make sure you're back here by seven," she kissed him one more time. "I'll see you later on tonight."

Jeff nodded. "Have a good talk."

Lorelei walked off to the front door to meet up with Matt as Jeff walked into Lorelei's room where Raya was still sifting through clothes.

"Hey Jeff," Raya said not bothering to stop what she was doing.

"I know that we just met and this is going to sound weird, but, I need a favor."

Raya stopped what she was doing and stared at Jeff who seemed extremely nervous. "Sure, what do you need?"

"How well do you know Lorelei?"

"As well as you probably what's up?"

"I need your help buying her a ring."

Matt held the door open for Lorelei and stared mainly at his feet as they walked down the driveway. It wasn't that he was uncomfortable, he just wasn't sure he could keep his wit about him if he stared at Lorelei for too long.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Lorelei asked after a few minutes of enjoying the early morning weather.

"Us," Matt said simply falling back into silence.

"What about us? I don't really know if there is anything else that we can talk about."

Matt shrugged, not sure how to phrase what he was feeling. "I just need to tell you something."

Lorelei walked in silence for a few minutes next to Matt enjoying his company just like she always had. She walked next to him and nudged his shoulder. "You can tell me anything Matt, you know that."

Matt looked at her smiling and felt that same familiar pain inside of his chest. He had loved this woman for so long and was unsure that it would ever get easier to see her. He calmed down the jitters in his stomach before he spoke to her.

"I know that I can. It's not you, it's me. There is so much that I want to tell you but I don't really know how to say it."

Lorelei took Matt's hand almost instinctually rubbing her thumb over his knuckles to calm him down. Matt looked down and smiled at the sight. He could not remember the last time that they had walked like this. When they were teenagers, warm summer nights in their small Carolina town were spent walking the streets and holding hands. Before life had gotten to either of them; and fame had gotten hold of Matt's life.

The sight of their hands joined together brought Matt back to their home. He saw the dusky sky covered in gorgeous strips of orange and red. Lorelei's safe and familiar presence made him feel as if he were back to leading the simple life he had been yearning for more and more lately. Even though every bit of scenery around him was foreign to him it all seemed to feel like home.

"You make me feel like I'm home," he said voicing what had been building inside of him. "I see you, and I feel like I'm that boy again, that boy that I want to be once more."

Lorelei smiled and squeezed his hand. "I feel that way too. You and Jeff make me feel that way. I love feeling that way."

"Yeah me too."

"So Matthew, what is this all about?"

Matt nodded and took a deep breath. There was nothing more that he wanted than to keep walking in silence. But as he exhaled he knew that this was the time. He had to let her go, and this was the time to do it.

"I'm letting you go Lee."

"What?" Lorelei asked confused.

"I've been in love with you for almost as long as I can remember. I've had a crush on you since I was old enough to honestly have any interest in girls. You were always the most amazing thing to me. There was never anyone that could live up to what you were, are."

"You had all those years with Amy. What was that relationship about?"

"Honestly, that was the first time that I escaped my feelings of you. Amy is an amazing woman, just like you, but things would not have worked. I wish that they would have ended better, but it was going to end. People change over the years, and we just didn't work hard enough at changing together."

"So is that what happened?" Lorelei was genuinely interested in the end of his relationship. She had met Amy a few times and talked to her many times on the phone. She always seemed like a nice enough person, but Matt never talked about why things ended.

"For the most part. I was telling you the truth when I told you that I hadn't been myself since Amy. And you, you made it seem to all melt away."

"Oh Matt don't say that. I did nothing of the sort."

"Lorelei you did, you made it go away; but for all the wrong reasons. When I was seventeen I put you on this pedestal. I mean Lee, the way I looked at you, you might as well have been a goddess."

"I didn't know that," Lorelei said quietly. She was shocked at what she was hearing, but she was afraid to completely express it. If she did Matt might close back up. This was her one shot at figuring out what was inside of Matt.

"I broke up with every girl in high school because I eventually realized that they weren't you. And the weird thing is, after I broke up with Amy, I compared her to you. I sat there and started to think about you again, thinking about how Amy didn't match up to you."

"Matt, why would you do that?"

"I've been in love with you for so long that I am afraid to not be in love with you. It has been the one defining factor in our relationship. We have that electric connection we ignore, but it's there. I was just so afraid that if I gave up that part that I would lose everything."

"Why would you even think that? All those years that you were with Amy we were still friends, still together, still having fun."

"That isn't the point Lee. So much of my life has been centered on my feelings for you and I didn't even know it. Every woman that I have dated has called me on it. They all saw how I looked at you, how I was towards you. I refused to believe that it was that obvious."

"I just don't understand Matt. You never said anything growing up, why now? Why are we out here walking around?"

"Because last night I realized how much I've put into trying to get you to love me. I was so afraid to let you out of my life that I needed you to love me. You were my goddess for so many years, I just don't know if I can see you as anything else."

"Are you trying to tell me that you can't be around me anymore?"

"What? No not at all. What I'm trying to tell you is that I know I have to move on. I realized that why I've had such a hard time with everything is because I don't want to let you go. I haven't honestly wanted to move on. All those years of loving you from afar made me so afraid to get anywhere close to the real thing with anyone besides you."

"Ok well what about now? What's changed?"

"Everything," Matt smiled. "When I met Raya she completely stopped my heart."

"Yeah she does that to most men."

"Not in the way you think Lee. There was something about her that brought me to that place that you take me. A place where all time, logic, consequence, and stress, it all falls away with a single glance. And I kept asking myself why in the world did that woman do this to me? The only one who's ever done that to me was you."

"So why did she? I mean if it wasn't her looks."

"It wasn't her looks. It was that spirited energy that she has, that you have. The two of you are so amazingly alike."

"We're also incredibly different."

"I know that. That is the best part. Last night made me realize that I can move on. I've been doing it, slowly, after I realized that you belong with Jeff. But there was such a large part of me that hadn't given you up."

"And in one night you have?" Lorelei asked incredulous. She would not have admitted it out loud, but there was a large part of her that still needed to let go of Matthew Hardy. She was not in love with him or at all tempted to try and have a relationship with him. Simply put there was a lot of history and old emotion that had to be filtered through and stored away for good.

"No," Matt shook his head and squeezed her hand. "I can barely look at you right now it makes my head all foggy. It'll take a while before I can look at you without having the urge to kiss you and hold you. The point is Lee that I can let you go, and I am. I love the fact that you make my baby brother happy, and I love seeing you so happy."

"What about you? Are you going to be happy?"

"I actually am." Matt's smile broadened and he let out a low chuckle. "For the first time in a long time I am truly happy. I don't know where I go from here but I know that I can move on and it's a great feeling. I've been comparing every woman that I meet to you, and I shouldn't."

"No you shouldn't, they'd probably win every time," Lorelei chuckled.

"Actually the complete opposite, they'd always fall short. To me," Matt stopped walking and turned Lorelei to face him. "You. Are. Perfect. And you always will be to me. I have to let go of that image of you as my goddess though. I can find someone who is as great as you and be happy. They don't have to be you anymore."

Lorelei hugged Matt and took in everything about him. She inhaled his scent, and felt his muscles pressed against hers. It was a moment that she wanted to commit to memory. Both knew that their relationship would change. It may not have been a drastic change, or one that anyone else would notice; but they knew that this moment together would be the last of its kind.

Jeff opened the door to the house a little concerned that the lights were off and there was no noise coming from inside. He tugged at his jacket nervously feeling the weight of the ring box in his right pocket. He knew that it was a bit fast, but he didn't care. For weeks he had been fighting the urge to propose. Every time that he saw her he felt it inside of his gut. Lorelei was the one for him, there was no denying it. And after everything that she had said to him earlier in the day he knew that he couldn't wait any longer. He had practically run straight out of the house with her roommate in tow when he knew that Lorelei had left the house.

Things had not been this good for Jeff in quite some time. His talk with Matt had gone as well as can be expected. There was no reason to hate Matt. Listening to Matt talk about how Lorelei had been his everything was tough on Jeff. But Matt had also told him that Lorelei was with the right person and there was no reason to think otherwise. Matt was moving on, moving out of the equation, and leaving Jeff free to do as he pleased without fear of hurting his brother. Like he told Lorelei that morning, it would take time for things to get back to normal with Matt. It was a comforting thought that there would be time to heal and fix whatever cracks in their relationship had formed.

"Lori," Jeff called walking into the living room getting more nervous with every step he took. "Lori you home?"

"Kitchen," Jeff's heart leapt at the sound of her voice from the back of the small house. "Come on back."

Jeff went to respond but his breath caught in his throat as he saw everything that Lorelei had set up. There were candles and flower petals everywhere. And the table seemed to be decorated, littered with more petals and holding an amazing dinner. But the surroundings suddenly didn't matter to him as his eyes fell on Lorelei in a stunning blue dress.

"Wow," was all that he managed to stammer out.

"Do you like?" She asked twirling around.

"More than like," he said grabbing her in a passionate kiss. If her aim was to turn him on then it was most definitely working. The soft fabric beneath his skin was tempting him to feel underneath. And the low cut back of the dress told him that there was nothing between him and Lorelei's bare flesh but a thin piece of fabric.

"Come on let's have some dinner," Lorelei said breaking the kiss.

"Suddenly Lori, I'm not so hungry for food anymore," Jeff said quickly capturing her lips in another long passionate kiss. Not wasting any time he grabbed her scooping her in his arms and carried her off to the bedroom.

"You aren't going to ask me to stop are you?" Jeff asked as he laid her on the bed unzipping her dress.

"No, I want you Jeff." Lorelei answered slipping out of her dress.

Jeff traced circles on Lorelei's soft skin watching her sleep. He had watched her drift off to sleep after they had spent every bit of energy their bodies could spare. He was starving now but didn't dare leave her side. He had been watching Lorelei sleep for close to an hour. And though he was tired himself he could not fall asleep, not until he asked her the one question that was burning inside of him. Slipping momentarily from Lorelei's side he grabbed the ring box and looked at the ring one last time before getting back into bed with her. Raya had assured him that she would love the ring, and he couldn't agree more. A two carat emerald cut diamond with sapphire accents on the side, it was a beautiful ring. Jeff smiled to himself and ran out to the kitchen grabbing the candles and flowers setting all of it up in her bedroom.

Pulling back Lorelei's hair Jeff kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear until he saw her begin to stir.

"Something wrong?" Lorelei asked without opening her eyes.

"No, nothing's wrong I just wanted to talk you about something baby."

The strain in Jeff's voice was undeniable and worried Lorelei. He had been gone all afternoon, but tonight he seemed so happy to be with her. Lorelei wanted to know exactly what had happened that made Jeff seem so anxious. She opened her eyes and looked around to see that all the flowers and candles had made there way to the bedroom causing a soft flicker to play off of Jeff's nervous features.

"What is all of this?" Lorelei asked turning in Jeff's arms to talk to him.

"You don't like it?" Jeff asked a bit disappointed.

"No, I love it," she whispered playing with some of the flower petals that Jeff had sprinkled on the bed. "I think it's gorgeous. You did all of this while I was sleeping?" Jeff nodded his stomach doing flips. Lorelei smiled and kissed him. "That's so sweet, thank you."

"You're welcome," he watched Lorelei snuggle into his chest and close her eyes once more. Jeff grabbed the ring box from behind him and placed it in front of her. "Lori, I have something for you."

Jeff couldn't help but smile as he saw Lorelei's eyes widen at the sight of the little red velvet box. He wasn't even sure if she thought that it was all a dream seeing as how she wouldn't move.

"I can say that it is too soon to do this, but I know that it isn't. Lorelei I have been dreaming of you as my wife since the day you showed up at the arena. Every time I see you I see our life played out in those beautiful eyes of yours. And I don't want another minute between us to pass without knowing that you are going to be my wife. I have never loved another the way I love you; and I know that I never will. Lorelei, baby, will you marry me?" Jeff asked opening the box.

He had managed not to cry as he was talking to her; but tears threatened to spill out as he saw Lorelei start to cry with a wide smile on her face. With a shaking hand she reached out to lightly touch the ring. The smile would not leave her face, and the tears would not stop falling. She finally managed a nod and a small "yes" could be heard through the sobs that had taken over her.


	19. Twist of Fate ch 19

Lorelei sat on an empty crate twirling her ring wondering why she had given in to Jeff's request. This was his family for all intents and purposes, and all though she understood why he wanted her there, she couldn't understand why she had actually given in to him. Her nervousness at meeting his roadie family kept her from hanging out with the others in catering; even at Jeff's insisting that they were all friendly good people. The idea of spending time around men that would tower over her even in her largest heels did nothing for her confidence. She smiled and laughed inwardly thinking of the conversation she had with Jeff before arriving at the arena.

"_We talked about all of this before you decided to come along with me," Jeff said trying to reassure Lorelei that she was welcomed backstage once more. "We have visitors on the road all the time."_

"_I don't know why I even agreed to this."_

"_Because I begged and pleaded until you said yes," Jeff said truthfully. It had taken a lot of convincing to get Lorelei to say yes to the idea of traveling with him._

"_I don't think I can go in there. See this is why I didn't say yes in the first place." Lorelei's nerves were getting the better of her. The simple thought of walking into the arena to meet some of his friends was too much for her to handle. "They aren't going to like me."_

"_They'll love you," Jeff laughed and kissed her hand. "You think too much."_

"_How do you know they will? They'll take one look at me and tell you to get rid of me. They'll think I'm just latching onto you because you're becoming bigger in the business."_

"_Lori no one thinks that. I've told them all about you, they like you already."_

"_I don't know why, I'm not that likeable." Jeff laughed again and hugged her close to him. _

"_Take a deep breath and relax."_

"_How can I relax? I flew across the country to meet people who, if they don't approve, could talk you into leaving me."_

_Jeff sighed, trying to hide the laughter that was building up inside of him. As much as she knew that he loved her she was always so weary of his leaving her. It was endearing to him, to know that she wanted to do everything she could to keep their relationship strong. She had only stepped off a plane a few hours earlier, flying out to Seattle once more to spend time with him on the road. He wrapped his arms around her to protect her from the chilly mist that was forming outside. _

"_I don't know how plainly I can put this before you listen to me," he paused and kissed the top of her head. "There is nothing, and no one that can make me leave you. If my brother can't stop me what makes you think that someone else can?"_

"_I don't know really," she ran her hand through her hair, a definite sign of her nerves. There seemed to be so much at stake for her, and she wasn't sure that she would be able to live up to the expectations. She was not even sure what the expectations were, or if there really were any, but the thought toyed with her emotions._

"_No one is expecting anything from you," Jeff said knowing exactly what she was thinking. She put more pressure on herself than anyone else ever could. "They know you make me happy and that's all that they care about."_

"_I should just wait back at the hotel. I'll grab a cab back and- "_

"_No you won't. It's been five months since I put that ring on your finger and you still won't set a date with me. You're coming with me to meet my friends. It's the least that you can do."_

"_You know that's how you talked me into coming along with you in the first place. How can I set a date with your crazy schedule?"_

"_For a couple weeks my schedule revolves around my life, not the other way around. It's not a big deal, and no matter how many times I tell you that you won't listen."_

_Lorelei smiled at him, she knew she was being difficult about the date. That was the main reason that she had agreed to come one the road trip with Jeff in the first place. Once he stared at her with that look as if he could see through her, calling her out on her reluctance and nervousness to settle on a date she had no choice but to compromise with him. In honesty it wasn't a compromise. They hadn't been able to see each other much over the last few months, and she was ecstatic to be able to see him every day. Now faced with the idea of meeting these wrestling superstars she began to think it was a bad idea for her to come at all. _

"_There's no backing out now Lori, don't be nervous, they'll love you."_

"_Who will?"_

"_Everyone."_

"You'll look lost in your thoughts."

Lorelei looked up to see Amy hopping up on the crate next to her. "Amy," she smiled genuinely happy to see a familiar face. "It's been a long time now."

"Yes it has. So are you trying to hide out from everyone else?"

Lorelei blushed, too embarrassed to admit that Amy was right. "Just trying to keep out of the way. I don't do that well meeting new people."

"We had a pretty good first meeting," Amy said smiling, trying to install some confidence into Lorelei.

"Mmhmm," Lorelei smiled at the memory of Matt planning incessantly for weeks. "Matt wanted everything to be perfect and go off without a hitch. He barely breathed the entire afternoon."

"I don't think I remember him being that nervous."

"Oh man," Lorelei chuckled as the sound of Matt's nervous rambling came flooding into her memory. "He talked to me for almost a half hour. He made me swear on everything holy that I would be nice to you. He even threatened to never speak to me again if I 'behaved badly' is how he put it."

"I guess I couldn't see past my own nerves." Amy said thinking back to their first meeting.

"You were nervous? Why would you be nervous?"

This time it was Amy's turn to laugh. She couldn't honestly believe that Lorelei had no idea of the way Matt talked about her constantly. "I was finally meeting Lorelei, the one and only. I had only heard about you a thousand times. Heard all the stories of the three of you back home, and told how much you mean to him every other day."

"Matt? Matt said those things?" Lorelei was truly shocked at what Amy was telling her. Lorelei had no reason to believe that when Matt and Jeff left her at home, he would mention her name to anyone, let alone his newest girlfriend.

"Why does that surprise you? I saw it every time he talked to you on the phone. His whole persona lit up just hearing your voice. I knew that he loved me; but I knew he'd never be in love with me like he was with you. It's like you were the only one that couldn't see how head over heels Matt was for you."

Lorelei shook her head and stared at her ring again. The full gravity of Matt's words all those months ago settling in. He had said that he was letting her go. She wasn't sure of the meaning until now. Even when they weren't around each other Matt was still taking her with him. Going into any relationship Matt took with him the feelings he held for Lorelei. The potential relationship that they could have had hanging in front of him; never fully allowing him to be truly happy.

"I guess I just didn't want to see it. I always held out for him. I was always so afraid that if I thought he was actually interested in me it would be an illusion and break my heart all over again. That sixteen year old girl in me still remembers pining away for him while he had other girlfriends."

"So what's the twenty-something woman inside of you say now?"

"That I love Jeff more than anything. I love him more than I could have loved even Matt."

"And that's a scary thought huh?" Amy asked. She had been there herself. Her love for Matt was like nothing she had ever experienced before; but realizing that someone else out there could make her love them even more terrified her.

"I just feel so horrible. I came out here with Jeff because I won't set a date. Five months being engaged and I won't set a date."

"You don't want to lose yourself in his life. You don't want to realize that you missed out on all the things that you wanted to do because you were doing everything he wanted to do."

"How do you know all of this?" Lorelei asked laughingly. She knew that she wasn't the only on the earth with these fears, it only felt like that when she was alone, separated from Jeff for most of the week.

"I've always felt exactly the same way. We're independent women who have fought tooth and nail for all that we have. There is no way that we are going to go down, and give it up that easy. But here's the rub; Jeff won't make you do it. He's just as independent and wants you to live your own life while making one together."

"Did Jeff send you over here to talk to me?"

Amy held her finger up to her lips and winked. "He just wanted me to get you to loosen up a bit. He told me you're really nervous about the wedding and being on the road."

"I just feel like everyone is judging me."

"That's because they are," Amy stated bluntly. "Not because they don't like, or don't want to like you," she added quickly. "This is like a horribly dysfunctional family, but it's family non the less. And those who are close to Jeff want to look out for him. Loosen up and give them the chance to like you."

"Thanks Amy, I'll think about that."

Amy smiled at her and checked the time. "I've got to go, work to do. Hope to see you around some more. Don't be a stranger." With a wave of her hand and a flip of her red hair she disappeared around the corner leaving Lorelei alone once more.

She sunk back onto the empty crate wondering what she should do. She wanted to tell Jeff what was truly holding her back from setting a date; but she knew it would only cause an argument that she didn't want to have. Somewhere deep down she felt as if she was betraying Matt by marrying Jeff. It seemed like it was the final and ultimate betrayal. And the conversation with Amy did little to lessen the feeling. She knew how much Matt had gone through; and the courage and strength it took to walk away from the whole situation and let his brother be happy. And no matter how much she loved Jeff, and wanted to marry him; she felt like marrying Jeff was not the proper way to show Matt how much he really did mean to her. Those two men were Lorelei's everything. She did not go a day without talking to at least one of them. And she knew that Matt was looking forward to the wedding as much as anyone else. Still, Lorelei was unable to commit to a date.

Taking her phone out of pocket, she called the one person she knew would always help.

"Hey Raya," Lorelei greeted a bit to cheerfully when her roommate picked up the phone.

"Alright what's wrong?" Raya picked up on the tone of Lorelei's voice, knowing that everything was not going as well as planned.

"Nothing really, I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Then what's with the overly chipper Mr. Rogers type greeting?"

Lorelei laughed, Raya was always one for comments that made even the most proper of people laugh. "Tell me again why this is ok to go through with. I need to know for sure."

Raya sighed. Her roommate had always worried too much. And lately Matt was her biggest worry. "Lor, Matt is going to be fine. I talked to him about when it first happened and he was actually happy for you. Not that fake happy, but sincerely happy. You know all of this you talked to him yourself about it."

"I know, but I still feel like I'm betraying him."

"Have you told Jeff this?"

"God no, do you think I'm crazy? It'll just be a huge argument."

Lorelei heard Raya's soft laugh on the other end of the phone. And the vision of her roommate shaking her head, looking disbelieving caused Lorelei to laugh as well.

"I know that you think you are betraying him, but you aren't. Matt has moved on. He's not pretending that everything is going to be perfect. But he's happy Lor, and you deserve to be happy as well."

"What do you mean he's moved on? How has he moved on and not told me about it yet?"

Lorelei could hear the gasp and eventually the groan coming from Raya. "Promise me that you won't say anything to him," Raya said finally. "He'll behead me if he knew that I was the one telling you this."

"Raya, Matt is about as dangerous as a butterfly; now tell me what is going on."

"We're together."

"What do you mean you're together?"

"We've been dating for about three months now. He wanted to be the one to tell you."

"Why wait so long then?" Lorelei was stunned by the news. She knew that Matt had seemed happier lately and couldn't tell why. What she didn't understand was why the two had kept it from her.

"We didn't want to spoil the whole happy engagement period. That and Matt thinks the more he talks about it the more he'll jinx it."

"Raya I can't believe that you didn't tell me."

"Just promise that when he finally does say something you'll act completely surprised."

Lorelei laughed. "Of course I will; but only to save your butt."

The two friends said their respective good byes leaving Lorelei with even more to think about. She no longer had to worry about whether or not Matt would be betrayed. She only had her own fears to worry about. The thought of marriage being scary, and extremely comforting at the same time to her. Jeff was the person that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with there was no doubting that. Giving up her independence was something that she was not willing to do. And she was still completely unsure how life married to a wrestler would be. She knew how little Jeff was home, but at this point she still had her own life. She still had the ability to absorb herself in her school work and finding a new job. Where would all of that go once she decided to take on Jeff's last name?

Lorelei had traveled with Jeff for two weeks leading up to that months pay per view. She tugged her coat around her to block out the cold winter air. The end of summer was one of the best times of her life, and it seemed to pass by so quickly. She yearned for the warm August air again. Hearing Jeff walk around her house after taking an extended vacation. He refused to leave the very day after proposing and spent an extra day padding around Lorelei's small home only leaving her side when absolutely necessary. Lorelei longed for the same care free feeling she had during that moment. She wanted to sit outside and watch the firefly's while Jeff held her close. There was still so much that she needed to figure out for herself. The two weeks of traveling with Jeff did little to ease her worries. All though all the wrestlers turned out to be nicer than she could have ever guessed; she still doubted what her life would be like with Jeff as a husband. And she could hardly contain her laughter as she watched Matt sneak in phone calls to a certain someone when he thought no one was looking. It mattered not whether or not he told Lorelei about the relationship; only that he was happier than he had been since his break up with Amy.

With so much on her mind she decided to forego walking around backstage, and went straight to her seat in the arena. When Jeff walked out and climbed the turnbuckles he would see her then. Staring at her ring Lorelei barely heard the music and pyro's go off to announce the start of show. Although she had been to RAW and Smackdown showings this was her first pay per view. The energy was electric, and Lorelei was loving it. The royal rumble was one of the biggest events of the year; and although Jeff was in the rumble itself, he still had a match during the pay per view. Lorelei wasn't sure against who, or why. The story lines never interested her. She simply watched the matches she thought displayed physicality and talent. What she did not expect was what she heard come from the ring announcers mouth.

Still arguing with herself on why she couldn't set a date she blocked out the noise around her until hearing "The Hardy Boys" caught her attention. Figuring that she had probably imagined what she heard she whipped her head up to the entrance ramp. Her jaw slacked a bit, shocked to see both Matt and Jeff walk down the ramp together. How long they had it planned she would never honestly know. What she did know was that Jeff had finally forgiven Matt for everything that had happened between them. There was no way that Jeff would work with Matt in the ring again if he had not let go of all the tension between the two of them. Guilt built in Lorelei once again. These two men had gone through so much to make sure that she was happy; why would she not set a date? Jeff had moved on, and so had Matt. The only one left to put everything behind them was Lorelei. And for the next fifteen minutes as she watched Matt and Jeff work inside the ring she admitted to herself what she was so reluctant to admit before. She was terrified of the commitment, and the idea of Jeff finding someone better. The idea of a broken heart teased her as she thought back to all the tears she shed over everything that the three had gone to up to that point. Her fear of not being able to live up to everything that Jeff may expect was weighing upon her. Lorelei always hid the growing concern inside of her; and the nagging belief that one day Jeff would come to his senses and find someone that was good enough for him. It had nothing to do with her life, or her freedom. She was too afraid to fail to even begin a life with Jeff. But looking at the brothers in the ring she knew what she had to do.

"Jeff," Lorelei called out jumping out into his arms when he walked into the arena to find her.

"Hey," he laughed catching her and spinning her around. Not being able to set a date for their wedding was killing him inside. Every day that she postponed was more of a reason for him to doubt that she honestly wanted to marry him. "Did you enjoy the show?"

"I didn't really pay attention to it."

"How did you not pay attention? You were sitting ring side."

"I was too shocked with the Hardy Boys reunion to get into the rest of the show."

Jeff laughed and nodded. "It felt real good going out there with Matt again. It was just so natural. I was going to tell you before the show, but you never showed up back stage."

"I'm sorry, I know that you were expecting me. I just needed a bit of time by myself to think through some things."

"What exactly did you think about?"

"I want to set a date." Lorelei laughed at the grin that slowly spread over Jeff's face. She reached up and kissed him lightly on the lips before Jeff grabbed her once more releasing some of his happiness into the kiss. She moaned against his lips and pulled back. "Oh and Matt and Raya are seeing each other. They have been for some time now."

"I already know," Jeff said guarding himself for the slap that made him follow.

"How did you know and I didn't?" Lorelei said foregoing the slap and hooking her arm in his. "That just isn't fair."

"He didn't want to be a thunder stealer," Jeff said casually walking them up the ramp. Lorelei slapped his arm and laughed at Jeff's "I was waiting for it" expression. "So when should we start a date?"

"Sometime after I'm done torturing the truth out of Matthew."

This brought laughter from both of them as Jeff squeezed her arm and led her out of the arena. He forgot about his aching body, or the fact that he was hungry. All he wanted was to go back to the hotel room and taste Lorelei's flesh once more, showing her exactly what kind of life they would have together.

_**The End**_

A/N: This is where it ends but no fear I'll be back with new stories soon enough. I'll always be posting up new chaps. or stories so keep an eye out for me ;-). Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!!!!


End file.
